Cute Inca Pottery Olla - Feline Face w/ Feline Handles

**First Time At Auction**

Pre-Columbian, Central Peru, Inca Empire, ca. 1200 to 1532 CE. A hand-built and highly burnished pottery olla of a sizable and attractive form with a spherical body, a gentle carination along the exterior peripheries, a rounded shoulder featuring a pair of stylized feline handles, and a flared rim surrounding the wide mouth. The front of the vessel bears a low relief feline face with almond-shaped eyes, a tumi-shaped brow and nasal ridge that narrows to form the protruding nose, and a toothy mouth flanked with concentric nasolabial folds. The felines on the shoulders represent jaguars with black-spotted skin and tapered tails, and a trio of white-painted seated figures on the verso wear serrated capes and spiked headdresses while holding lengthy staves. Size: 9.8" W x 11.4" H (24.9 cm x 29 cm)

Provenance: ex-private Shenassa collection, Los Angeles, California, USA; ex-private Los Angeles, California, USA collection, formed before 2000

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#153361
Condition Report: Minor abrasions and nicks to base, body, feline handles, and rim, with fading and chipping to areas of original pigment, areas of fire-darkening, and light encrustations. Nice earthen deposits, root marks, manganese blooms, and original pigmentation remain throughout. Adhered pottery foot is modern and was attached in modern times for stability and presentation.