Colima Redware Olla with Nine Modeled HeadsPre-Columbian, Mexico, Colima, ca....
Colima Redware Olla with Nine Modeled HeadsPre-Columbian, Mexico, Colima, ca. 100 BCE – 250 CE. A squat burnished redware olla, its flaring collar rising from a globular body girdled at the shoulder by nine modeled human heads. Each face is fully rounded, with slit eyes, a broad nose and puffy cheeks framing an open mouth, breath apparently escaping in a rush... the heads are perhaps wind-deity effigies. Crowning them, alternating small conical projections (often read as shamanic horns) and segmented raised crests set up a rhythmic alternation around the circumference. The lustrous slip is polished to a warm oxblood sheen, the lower body left plain so that the sculptural frieze carries the whole design. Vessels of this type are uncommon, and their scale and finish suggest use as prestige or mortuary offerings rather than ordinary domestic containers. Size: 10.375" Diam x 7.625" H (26.4 cm Diam x 19.4 cm H).
Colima potters of western Mexico worked within the shaft-tomb tradition shared with neighboring Nayarit and Jalisco, in which burnished red-slipped ceramics were placed in deep chambers cut beneath the earth. Their best-known products are the plump dogs and effigy figures, but hollow ollas ornamented with applied and modeled elements form a smaller and less familiar category.
The puffed cheeks and open mouths of the heads here recall the widespread Mesoamerican convention for wind, a breath expelled rather than a mouth speaking. That convention later crystallizes in the duck-billed Ehecatl of Postclassic central Mexico, though any direct link to a named Colima deity remains conjectural.
Provenance: Private New England collection, acquired from Anthropos Gallery, CA. Ex. Meza Family collection, CA., acquired 1960’s - 1970.
SHIPPING: We coordinate worldwide shipping in-house through specialist international forwarders experienced with fine art and antiquities customs manifests. International buyers must confirm, prior to bidding, that their country's customs authority will accept the item. All duties, taxes, clearance fees, and any costs arising from customs delays, seizures, re-export, returns, or loss in transit are the buyer's sole responsibility. Artemis assumes no liability for items refused entry, detained, or lost after export. We cannot ship ancient items to their country of origin (Egyptian to Egypt, Greek to Greece, etc.).
PAYMENT EXCEPTION: For clients not previously established with Artemis, payment for all gold, precious metal, and gemstone lots must be made by bank wire transfer or certified bank check/money order, without exception.
Item #73030Scattered areas of mineral deposits on the surface. One nose has a tiny restored chip, otherwise intact, Excellent condition.
Colima Redware Olla with Nine Modeled HeadsPre-Columbian, Mexico, Colima, ca. 100 BCE – 250 CE. A squat burnished redware olla, its flaring collar rising from a globular body girdled at the shoulder by nine modeled human heads. Each face is fully rounded, with slit eyes, a broad nose and puffy cheeks framing an open mouth, breath apparently escaping in a rush... the heads are perhaps wind-deity effigies. Crowning them, alternating small conical projections (often read as shamanic horns) and segmented raised crests set up a rhythmic alternation around the circumference. The lustrous slip is polished to a warm oxblood sheen, the lower body left plain so that the sculptural frieze carries the whole design. Vessels of this type are uncommon, and their scale and finish suggest use as prestige or mortuary offerings rather than ordinary domestic containers. Size: 10.375" Diam x 7.625" H (26.4 cm Diam x 19.4 cm H).
Colima potters of western Mexico worked within the shaft-tomb tradition shared with neighboring Nayarit and Jalisco, in which burnished red-slipped ceramics were placed in deep chambers cut beneath the earth. Their best-known products are the plump dogs and effigy figures, but hollow ollas ornamented with applied and modeled elements form a smaller and less familiar category.
The puffed cheeks and open mouths of the heads here recall the widespread Mesoamerican convention for wind, a breath expelled rather than a mouth speaking. That convention later crystallizes in the duck-billed Ehecatl of Postclassic central Mexico, though any direct link to a named Colima deity remains conjectural.
Provenance: Private New England collection, acquired from Anthropos Gallery, CA. Ex. Meza Family collection, CA., acquired 1960’s - 1970.
SHIPPING: We coordinate worldwide shipping in-house through specialist international forwarders experienced with fine art and antiquities customs manifests. International buyers must confirm, prior to bidding, that their country's customs authority will accept the item. All duties, taxes, clearance fees, and any costs arising from customs delays, seizures, re-export, returns, or loss in transit are the buyer's sole responsibility. Artemis assumes no liability for items refused entry, detained, or lost after export. We cannot ship ancient items to their country of origin (Egyptian to Egypt, Greek to Greece, etc.).
PAYMENT EXCEPTION: For clients not previously established with Artemis, payment for all gold, precious metal, and gemstone lots must be made by bank wire transfer or certified bank check/money order, without exception.
Item #73030Scattered areas of mineral deposits on the surface. One nose has a tiny restored chip, otherwise intact, Excellent condition.
