Lot 84
Pre-Columbian, Guatemala, Maya Late Classic Period, ca. 550 to 900 CE. A fabulous find - a carved pottery bottle, square-shaped with a narrow round spout. The larger sides are decorated with a repeated image of a lord/god with a feathered/fiery headdress - calling to mind an eagle or Quetzalcoatl. Red pigment remains on the decorated panels. The shoulder is demarcated with an incised border. This type of item is known as a paneled flask. Size: 1.25" L x 2.1" W x 3.75" H (3.2 cm x 5.3 cm x 9.5 cm)
Elaborate vessels like this one were designed to be instantly distinguishable from those used for everyday eating or drinking - not just in decoration, but also in quantity produced, making these a much rarer find than your average piece of domestic pottery. Traditionally, items like this one have been known as "poison" or "medicine" bottles, in part because of their comparison to bottles used by other New World native groups, but depictions of people using the flasks in artwork as well as residue analysis on archaeological examples indicate that they had other uses. They are often found in the context of burials, filled with red pigment like cinnabar or hematite, but with the remains of other things underneath the pigment (as if they were used in life and then filled with color in death). Because of their size, they must have been made to contain things not required in large quantities - indeed, poisons or medicines, but also perfume, tobacco, and ritual drugs like powdered mushrooms.
Provenance: private D. C. collection, California, USA, an Emmy Award winning Hollywood writer and Executive Producer, collected before 2000
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#125781
- Condition: One tiny chip from the bottom border. Excellent remaining detail and pigment, with root marks on surface.
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