Pre-Columbian Nazca Terracotta Vessel with Mythical Creature

100-700 A.D.

7 1/4 in. (713 grams, 18.5 cm).

Biconical vessel with conical underside and domed upper, two vertical spouts to the centre with flat-section bar between, painted frieze of creatures to the shoulder including severed heads. [No Reserve]

Provenance

From a collection acquired on the UK art market from various auction houses and collections mostly before 2000.
From an important Cambridgeshire estate; thence by descent.

Literature

See Ligaube, G., The World That Wasn't There, 5 Continents, Milan, 2015, page 170, and Sotheby's, Pre Columbian Art, New York, November 1989, no.33, for similar examples; see also Pimentel V., Peru, Kingdoms of the Sun and the Moon, 5 Continents Milan, 2013, p.48, for an almost identical example.

Footnotes

The depiction of severed heads being held by mythical creatures as trophies reflects a society where warfare was commonplace and celebrated through art.

CONDITION

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LOT 2421