Description Pre-Columbian, South Coast Peru, Paracas Cavernas, ca. 500 BCE. A finely preserved, hand-built figural pottery vessel of a round-bottomed form depicting a highly stylized female 'pretty lady' covered in stone-burnished grooves and an orange-brown ground color. The broad, piriform body features a pair of cream-hued legs beneath curved arms in relief with hands held to the chest, two parabolic strap handles behind the shoulders, and groups of dark red stripes indicative of ritual scratching or scarification. The rounded triangular head presents incised grooves for the mouth and curved eyes, a narrow nose with impressed nostrils, incised striations comprising the centrally-parted coiffure, and white streaks beneath the eyes indicative of tears being shed, all in front of a petite, cylindrical spout on the verso. Size: 4.7" W x 7.55" H (11.9 cm x 19.2 cm)
Provenance: private Hawaii, USA collection; ex-private Hans Juergen Westermann collection, Germany, collected from the 1950s to the 1960s
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#157113
Condition Report Professionally repaired from multiple large pieces, with restoration to nose and areas of base, and resurfacing with overpainting along new material and break lines. Light encrustations and softening to some incised details. Nice remains of original pigment throughout.