Rare Sinu Pottery Female Seated Bench Figure

Pre-Columbian, Colombia, Sinu (Zenu) peoples, ca. 800 to 1200 CE. A rare and intriguing example of a hand-built pottery female figure seated upon an integral four-legged bench with a rectangular seat. The pale-orange woman is nude from the waist up and wears simple trousers, corded bangles around her forearms and lower legs, and a multi-stranded necklace around her stocky neck. Her raised head features wide-set, coffee-bean-shaped eyes, a perky nose above thin lips, rounded cheeks, and a pointed chin, all beneath a bowl-style coiffure that is surmounted by a large bowl. The Sinu tribe lived in the inland delta along the modern-day Colombian coast of the Caribbean Sea. Their famous goldsmithing talents drew the Spaniards to their region; however, they also created a wide range of intriguing ceramic sculptures that skillfully depict stylized anthropomorphic figures like this example. Size: 5.125" W x 8.9" H (13 cm x 22.6 cm)

Provenance: private Hawaii, USA collection; ex-private T. Misenhimer collection, Beverly Hills, California, USA, collected from 1970 to 2008

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#152587 Dimensions: Condition Report: Professionally repaired from multiple pieces, with resurfacing and overpainting along break lines. Minor nicks and abrasions to limbs, bench, body, and head, with softening to some finer details, light encrustations, and areas of fire-darkening. Nice earthen deposits throughout. Old inventory label beneath one bench leg.