Published Terracotta Bowl of the Tolima Culture with Fine Relief- and Incised Decoration

Culture: Tolima Culture/Colombia

Period: 900-1500 A.D.

Material: Terracotta

Dimensions: 12.8 cm high

Price: 2 200 Euro

Ref: 11081

Provenance: Austrian private collection Prof. Josef Mairitsch (1938-1994) with the inventory number M71. Acquired between 1960 and the early 1980s. Thence in the family estate. With a collection note and a copy of the inventory list.

Condition: Intact

Description: Important biconical terracotta bowl of the Tolima culture from Colombia’s Rio Magdalena river valley. The vessel stands on a rounded base and rises bowl-shaped. A finely knobbed middle ridge marking the kink to the upper part of the body, which intensively tapers. Here the wall is decorated with three anthropomorphic figures in relief with the arms and legs stretched out, whereby the hands point upwards and the feet downwards. Between the figures incised decoration with short lines in a rectangle. At the beginning of the neck an encircling knob band. The neck itself is smooth and concave. The massive spout has a rim, where above and below are two more knob bands. An exceedingly high-quality vessel, which according to the collection note was found near San Agustin. Published in: Josef Mairitsch “Columbus am Wörthersee. Amerika vor Columbus.” Catalogue for the special exhibition of the cultural department of the state capital Klagenfurt from 1 June to 31 October 1992, page 94, no. 15.04. See for the type the vase with the same figure depiction in the Museo Archeológico in Bogota (Tolima, no. 25).