15th Mar, 2023 10:00
Fine Interiors - Two Day Sale
312
An Omagua figural pottery funerary vessel
An Omagua figural pottery funerary vessel,
16th-18th century, Napo River, Amazon Basin, Ecuador, decorated with black geometric patterns on a cream ground,
27cm wide
32cm deep
48cm high
Bearing an Oxford Authentication thermoluminescence analysis report (sample no. N121q60), estimating that the date of the last firing was between 300 and 450 years ago.
Provenance: Austin G Baillon OBE, acquired prior to 1975:
thence by descent.
Austin Gabriel Baillon OBE served during the Second World War as a Special Operations Executive in H Division in Gibraltar, after which he followed a career with Shell in Venezuela, where he also occupied a position as British Vice-Consul. During this period he spent time in Ecuador, which is where he acquired the two present Omagua pottery vessels.
The Omagua culture inhabited the banks of the Napo River in the Amazon Basin during the second millennium AD, and as a people gave great weight to spirituality in their ritual and daily life. The present vessel, with its vibrant geometric paint, would have housed the remains of an important figure in the tribe as part of a 'secondary burial', which was a continuation of the same process in earlier Amazon cultures. As part of specific funeral rites, the bones of deceased elders were exhumed and placed in these specially crafted anthropomorphic urns. Little relevant or extensive archaeological work has been performed in the Amazonian Basin due to the climatic conditions. Nonetheless, there are pre-colonial archaeological sites that have a tradition of effigy urns distinguished by elaborately designed patterns, and we know the manufacture of such urns persisted into post-European times.
For a similar, albeit earlier example, see: Napo (Ecuador) Phase Rocafuerte Urn, c. AD 1000-1200, Israel Museum, Arnold H Maremont collection.
Take advantage of our Sworders Delivery Service. Please see 'Shipping estimate' below.
Sold for £8,000
Condition Report
Hands lacking. Breaks and repairs to both feet. Cracks to the body throughout. Rubbing, loss and wear to decoration throughout. Please see additional photos.
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Auction: Fine Interiors - Two Day Sale, 15th Mar, 2023
The first Fine Interiors catalogue of the year is always particularly special for us, with the prospect of another twelve months of working with beautiful pieces of furniture and works of art, as well as having the opportunity to share our enthusiasm with the people behind the objects.
Included in this sale are nearly five hundred stylish lots representing the breadth of the decorative arts from the last five hundred years, as well as the appetite for incorporating them into a contemporary interior in order to create a welcoming environment. This notion is clearly exemplified in three private collections from town and country that we are privileged to be able to offer - those of the Late John Scott-Oldfield, Mrs Althea Lloyd and Sir John Craven.
We are hugely excited to share this sale with you all and hope that you take just as much enjoyment from browsing the online catalogue as we did in bringing it together.
Viewing
AUCTION VIEWING
Viewing will be held at our Stansted Auction Rooms, Cambridge Road, Stansted Mountfitchet CM24 8GE, as follows:
Fri 10 March, 10am - 5pm
Sat 11 March, 10am - 2pm
Sun 12 March, 10am - 2pm
Mon 13 March, 10am - 5pm
All lots are, however, extensively illustrated and carry detailed condition reports - see 'Condition report' at the foot of each lot description.
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Sworders is proud to be supporting the work of Antiques are Green - the movement that was founded in 2009 to promote “a greener future created from the past”. Read their fascinating carbon footprint study of a Georgian chest of drawers versus a modern equivalent here
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