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Lot 214A
South Pacific, Hawaii, 19th century CE. A beautiful example of a wooden calabash - a serving bowl named for the gourd that it resembles, though it is made from inherently beautiful Hawaiian hardwood. This example has a small round foot, which is a rare variation and indicates that it was made after the introduction of the lathe. Its petite size is also a rare variation, because they vessels are often used for buffets. Size: 5.5" H (14 cm)Hawaiian royalty often valued specific calabashes - even going so far as to name them after royal individuals - and until the early 19th century they were reserved for elites in society. Prior to the 19th century, they were made with stone and coral tools, carved from kou, milo, and kamani trees most commonly. Repaired calabashes like this one demonstrate signs of immense reverence - the calabash was loved enough to be repaired, and the repairs, like this one, were done with the desire to make the repair itself beautiful. Provenance: ex-Massachusetts Collection Condition: Small butterfly repair as shown with some surface cracking and wear/patina to the wood. All items legal to buy/sell under U.S. Statute covering cultural patrimony Code 2600, CHAPTER 14, and are guaranteed to be as described or your money back. A Certificate of Authenticity will accompany all winning bids. We ship worldwide and handle all shipping in-house for your convenience. #119876
Lot 118F
Pre-Columbian, West Mexico, Colima, ca. 300 BCE to 300 CE. A huge and gorgeous mottled red-brown and black stone spear point created from a gorgeous chunk of mahogany obsidian (volcanic glass with iron inclusions). The piece is well-crafted, symmetrically knapped to points at both ends, obviously intended to be an impressive object of prestige given its large scale and rare source of stone. Quite unusual, not only for its size, but also because we do not ofen see obsidian blades created by the Colima. Custom stand. Size: 1.9" W x 12.25" H (4.8 cm x 31.1 cm)Obsidian - "iztli" to the indigenous - fascinated the ancient Mesoamericans; the Aztecs even had a god, Tezcatlipoca, who was the Lord of the Smoking Obsidian Mirror. The shockingly sharp edges and points of this piece demonstrate its great allure. In a world without metal, this sharp quality was especially important for ceremonies of ritual bloodletting and human sacrifice. The difficult-to-obtain material came from volcanic sources in the Sierra Madre of Mexico and in Guatemala, was traded across hundreds of miles to meet the demand for sharp cutting tools and ritual objects, and was struck using a deer antler or small hammer stone to form blades and other shapes. The Colima buried their dead in shaft tombs deep below their residences, alongside the remains of their ancestors. These tombs were richly furnished with ceramic figures, vessels, offerings, and precious stone items of jade and obsidian. Provenance: Ex-Sevilla Collection, Pomona, CA Condition: Slight wear to edges and some white mineral deposits on surface. All items legal to buy/sell under U.S. Statute covering cultural patrimony Code 2600, CHAPTER 14, and are guaranteed to be as described or your money back. A Certificate of Authenticity will accompany all winning bids. We ship worldwide and handle all shipping in-house for your convenience. #119694
Lot 220c
Native American, Southwestern US, Mimbres Valley, New Mexico, Ancestral Puebloan people, ca. 1000 to 1250 CE, probably post-1100 in accordance with style. A deep pottery vessel, coil-made with a white slipped exterior and an interior walls decorated with intriguing design/iconography comprised of repeated ovoid shapes filled with checkered patterns emerging from the tondo (perhaps representing seeds or beans) and set against a diagonally striated ground. Size: 9.75" in diameter x 5.45" H (24.8 cm x 13.8 cm)This is part of the Mimbres (and larger Mogollon) tradition of iron-based mineral painted decorated pottery. Although much of Mimbres pottery has zoomorphic decoration, there is also some like this that has geometric decoration that seems to have been inspired by other Southwestern imagery. Although the Mimbres have a very distinctive pottery tradition, there is no doubt that they had extensive contact with other peoples in the southwest. The Mimbres people occupied the mountain and river valleys of southwestern New Mexico; the name we know them by is from the Spanish word for the willows that grew alongside the river valleys. The artists responsible for creating pottery vessels like this were women, and many women have been found in burials accompanied by pottery making tools. Provenance: Ex-Private Orange County, CA Condition: Repaired from multiple pieces. All items legal to buy/sell under U.S. Statute covering cultural patrimony Code 2600, CHAPTER 14, and are guaranteed to be as described or your money back. A Certificate of Authenticity will accompany all winning bids. We ship worldwide and handle all shipping in-house for your convenience. #119715
Lot 118A
Pre-Columbian, West Mexico, Colima, ca. 300 BCE to 300 CE. A beautiful stone spear point created from a gorgeous chunk of mahogany obsidian (volcanic glass with iron inclusions). The piece is well-crafted, symmetrically knapped to points at both ends, obviously a large prestige item from a rare source of stone. Comes with custom stand. Size: 1.6" W x 9.7" H (4.1 cm x 24.6 cm)Obsidian - "iztli" to them - fascinated the ancient Mesoamericans; the Aztecs even had a god, Tezcatlipoca, who was the Lord of the Smoking Obsidian Mirror. The shockingly sharp edges and points of this piece demonstrate its great allure. In a world without metal, this sharp quality was especially important for ceremonies of ritual bloodletting and human sacrifice. The difficult-to-obtain material came from volcanic sources in the Sierra Madre of Mexico and in Guatemala, traded hundreds of miles to meet the demand for sharp cutting tools and ritual objects, and then were struck using a deer antler or small hammer stone to form blades and other shapes. The Colima buried their dead in shaft tombs deep below their residences, alongside the remains of their ancestors. These tombs were richly furnished with ceramic figures, vessels, offerings, and precious stone items of jade and obsidian. Provenance: Ex-Sevilla Collection, Pomona, CA Condition: One point has a very small loss to the chip. All items legal to buy/sell under U.S. Statute covering cultural patrimony Code 2600, CHAPTER 14, and are guaranteed to be as described or your money back. A Certificate of Authenticity will accompany all winning bids. We ship worldwide and handle all shipping in-house for your convenience. #119695
Lot 186
Pre-Columbian, northern Peru, late Moche, ca 800 CE. Truly larger than any Moche portrait head we have ever had the honor of handling, a superb and enormous bichrome portrait head presenting an expressive visage comprised of wide open, inset eyes, a pronounced, curved nose with openwork nostrils, a well-defined, protruding mouth with each tooth individually delineated, and carefully modeled facial planes and contours - even the philtrum (vertical groove running from nasal septum to upper lip) is defined. Moche effigy pottery was usually created with moulds; however, each piece was individually and uniquely refined with hand tools and decorated using slips of red, cream, and brown hues. Given his elaborate phenotype with facial tattoos/paint, huge earspools, and an impressive helmet/headdress adorned with a rich variety of stylized geometric motifs, all hand-painted in red on a cream ground, the subject portrayed here was most likely a revered warrior or leader. Perhaps the best known Moche vessels are veristic portrait stirrup-spouted jars, and scholars believe the Moche to be perhaps the only ancient culture in the Americas that produced such vessels. The Moche depicted real people, and furthermore, it has been possible to follow the progression of age and rank of several renowned individuals portrayed at different times of their lives in pottery. One particular face, easily identified because of his cut lip, appears in more than forty Moche pottery vessels. What is remarkable about this piece, however, is that it is not a vessel, but rather a sculptural portrait head with a closed bottom, most likely intended to stand on its own as a monument to the deceased. A jaw-dropping example that has been deemed ancient via thermoluminescence testing. Size: 12.5" L x 15" W x 13.75" H (31.8 cm x 38.1 cm x 34.9 cm) Provenance: Ex-Private Spanish collection acquired in the 1980's; comes with TL report from QED Laboratoire, Aix-en-Provence Condition: Repaired from four to six large pieces. Surface wear with abrasions and chips as shown. Nice manganese deposits. All items legal to buy/sell under U.S. Statute covering cultural patrimony Code 2600, CHAPTER 14, and are guaranteed to be as described or your money back. A Certificate of Authenticity will accompany all winning bids. We ship worldwide and handle all shipping in-house for your convenience. #118051
Lot 65C
Central Asia, Tibet, 19th century CE. This incredibly detailed bronze gilded statue depicts Hayagriva, a horse-headed form of Shiva, embracing his shakti (female consort), Vajravarahi. They represent the concept of Yab-Yum, literally "father-mother", which is a common symbol in Indian, Bhutanese, Tibetan, and Nepalese Buddhism. This example is inset with three cabochon rubies, one cabochon emerald, and wears a diadem of skulls topped by a horse's head and flames. Size: 3" L x 6" W x 7.75" H (7.6 cm x 15.2 cm x 19.7 cm)It represents the male (compassion and skillful means) in sexual union with the female (wisdom and insight). In this statue, Hayagriva holds Vajravarahi with two of his ten arms; he is also four headed. With his other arms, he holds a variety of objects, including several tools, weapons, and a shrunken head that he grasps by its long hair, which represents the four-faced head of Brahma. Both he and his consort are dressed in finery, wearing jewelry, crowns, and elaborate costumes. They are framed by flames and stand atop a tiered throne. Beneath their feet are small human corpses. The level of skill represented in this carving is amazing -- every time I look at it, I'm seeing a new detail. Provenance: Ex-Bricker Collection Condition: Patina on surface. All items legal to buy/sell under U.S. Statute covering cultural patrimony Code 2600, CHAPTER 14, and are guaranteed to be as described or your money back. A Certificate of Authenticity will accompany all winning bids. We ship worldwide and handle all shipping in-house for your convenience. #119218
Lot 7D
Egypt, Third Intermediate Period, ca. 1070 to 712 BCE. This is a late period ushabti (shabti), made of a green faience and mummiform, with raised details of the hands holding its tools. Size: 1.3" W x 5.6" H (3.3 cm x 14.2 cm)Ushabti were placed in tombs as grave goods, created to do manual labor for the deceased in the afterlife. As a result, they are frequently depicted with arms crossed, holding hoes and baskets. By the Third Intermediate period, this practice had become so necessary and elaborate that some tombs contained one worker for every day of the year and thirty-six overseers, each responsible for ten laborers. Workers like this one are from that period of enormous proliferation, and are some of our best surviving insights into ancient Egyptian funerary practices. Provenance: Ex-Hagar Collection, Ex-private NC collection acquired in the 1980's Condition: Intact, with some age wear to form and discoloration from age. All items legal to buy/sell under U.S. Statute covering cultural patrimony Code 2600, CHAPTER 14, and are guaranteed to be as described or your money back. A Certificate of Authenticity will accompany all winning bids. We ship worldwide and handle all shipping in-house for your convenience. #119292
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82067 item(s)/page