A Maya Bowl with Resist Painted Designs...

Description

A Maya Bowl with Resist Painted Designs
Mesoamerica, Late Pre-Classic Period, c. 300 BC - 300 AD

Burnished orangeware with resist painting. A refined bowl with a slightly rounded base and gently flaring walls, its interior animated by a large floral motif executed in negative resist-sweeping across roughly two-thirds of the bottom and half the inner rim. The design was created by masking the "petals" before applying the slip; after firing, the reserved orangeware reads as luminous petals that float against a darker ground. The asymmetrical placement heightens the graphic rhythm of the interior, meant to be revealed in use. Bowls with interior decoration of this quality belong to elite feasting traditions in the Late Pre-Classic Maya world, where resist painting offered a striking play of light and surface. Elegant in profile and visually unique, this example is a superb survival of early Maya ceramic artistry. Condition: reassembled from three large pieces, professional 1 inch wide restoration on main separation down the middle and up the wall of one side.

Provenance:
Acquired by the current collection in 1989
Merrin Gallery, New York, NY
Joyce Strauss, Denver, CO, active from the middle 1960s through the 1980s

Diameter: 8 ½ inches

Estimate: $1,500 - $2,500.

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