Flaring bowl (Florero)

ca. 450-550 AD

The interior rim of this beautiful vessel expresses a fine-line painting in reddish brown on cream that shows a frieze of four alternating mythical hunters. Two have lobster-claw arms, lobster tails, and segmented armor trimmed by crustacean legs. The other two figures are protected by large ferocious feline shields with crab claws emanating from the sides. Clusters of flora and fish occupy the field.

Ceramic and paint

9 1/2 x 17 1/8 in. diam. (24.1 x 43.5 cm)

Gift in honor of Assen Nicolov

2018.3.3

Provenance: Collection of Robert and Marianne Huber, New York; [Sotheby’s, New York, Pre-Columbian Art, Nov. 20, 1995, sale no. 6778, lot no. 11, reproduced]; purchased at auction by Assen and Christine Nicolov, Seattle, Washington; to Seattle Art Museum, Seattle, Washington, 2018

Photo: Elizabeth Mann

Now on view at the Seattle Art Museum

Resources

Exhibition HistorySeattle, Washington, Seattle Art Museum, Feasting with the Gods: Art and Ceremony in Ancient Mesoamerica and the Central Andes, Dec. 11, 2003 - July 19, 2004.

Seattle, Washington, Seattle Art Museum, Cosmic Beings in Mesoamerican and Andean Art, Nov. 10, 2018 - ongoing [on view Nov. 10, 2018 - Dec. 12, 2021; beginning July 14, 2022].

Seattle, Washington, Seattle Art Museum, Our Blue Planet: Global Visions of Water, Mar. 18 - May 30, 2022.

Published ReferencesJosé Antonio de Lavalle, Moche, Lima, 1985, pg. 55.

Seattle Art Museum respectfully acknowledges that we are on Indigenous land, the traditional territories of the Coast Salish people. We honor our ongoing connection to these communities past, present, and future.

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