Chinesco Pottery Olla w/ Flower, Fireflies, & Stingrays:
Pre-Columbian, West Mexico, Nayarit, Chinesco, ca. 300 BCE to 300 CE. A gorgeous hand-built pottery bowl with a flat, circular base, thick walls, a bulbous body, and an annular rim, gently curved inward. Boasting a lustrous burnish over a hue of creamy beige, the exterior of the ancient vessel is beautifully adorned with a brown-painted flower that centers on the base as its pointed petals travel up the walls of the bowl. A row of fireflies represented by crisscross designs parallel the outline of two petals, while four crescent shaped motifs representing stingrays hang from the double-ringed border surrounding the rim. The skillfully painted flower found on the base is likely an American or yellow lotus flower and is indicative of why this style of pottery is known as Chinesco; due to its stylistic similarities to the art of the Chinese, who are well known for their frequent aesthetic incorporation of the lotus flower. The interior of this lovely bowl is coated with a rich hue of taupe. Size: 10″ W x 4″ H (25.4 cm x 10.2 cm); 8.875″ H (22.5 cm) on included custom stand.
