Artwork Page for Bowl with Spider Decoration

Details / Information for Bowl with Spider Decoration

Bowl with Spider Decoration

c. 750–1250

Colombia, Highland Nariño region, Piartal style, 8th-13th Century

Medium
ceramic, slip
Measurements
Diameter: 8.2 x 20.8 cm (3 1/4 x 8 3/16 in.); Overall: 8.1 cm (3 3/16 in.)
Credit Line
John L. Severance Fund 1995.41
Public Domain
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Location
233 Mesoamerican and Intermediate Region
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Description

In the Nariño region of southwestern Colombia, the dead were buried in shaft tombs, the most elaborate up to sixty feet deep and furnished with offerings such as these bowls. Colombian ceramics are not much studied and little can be said about their imagery, which reveals a keen interest in geometric abstraction. Depicted here are a row of figures with thatch-roofed huts, humans attacked by birds, and spiders.
A tan ceramic vessel features a wide, shallow bowl atop a flared pedestal base. On the exterior, mottled patches of charcoal and dark gray mark the surface. Inside, geometric patterns in red-orange, black, and cream slip decorate the walls, including spider-like forms with thin, angled legs reaching toward the center. The slightly irregular, rounded rim displays a warm earthy tone.

Bowl with Spider Decoration

c. 750–1250

Colombia, Highland Nariño region, Piartal style, 8th-13th Century

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