Pre-Inca Head Vase of the Black Ware from the Lake Titicaca

Culture: Bolivia/Lake Titicaca

Period: 100 B.C. -250 A.D.

Material: Black silt

Dimensions: 12.5 cm high

Price: 900 Euro

Ref: 11009

Provenance: Austrian private collection Prof. Josef Mairitsch (1938-1994) with the inventory number M 79. Acquired between 1960 and the early 1980s. Thence in the family estate. With an old collection picture and note.

Condition: Intact

Description: Hand formed head vase with the depiction of a dignitary with a bell-shaped body of coarse, black silt. The broad face with deeply set, almond-shaped eyes, the mouth engraved as a slit. The nose protrudes sculpturally. The ears protrude to the sides and carry jewellery. On the head a crown with an outwards curved rim, which served as a spout. On the sides vertical round discs rise over the rim. From there the handle winds in s-form downwards, until it reaches the ears. The outside of the crown is decorated with angles, stairs and a large double-armed X over the forehead. The conical body is also inside hollow. On the outside it is engraved with wavy bands between vertical lines. A rare, early ceramic of a predecessor culture of the Incas at the Lake Titicaca. See the vases of the coarse Black Ware in the museums around the archaeological sites in Tiwanaku and Puma Punku.