Hiwi (Guahibo) Painted Pottery Female Figural Jar, Orinoco Llanos

South America, Colombia and Venezuela, Orinoco Llanos, Hiwi (Guahibo). A hand-built earthenware jar in the form of a standing woman. Her arms bend outward with the hands set on the hips, and the open loops they form work as a pair of handles. The globular lower body is the vessel's belly. Above it rise a narrow waist, small pointed breasts, and a long neck. The head is hollow and open at the crown to make the mouth. Fine painted lines in umber, orange, and dark brown cover the pale slip. Dotted bands circle the throat like necklaces, and zigzags and nested chevrons wrap the torso and hips. The face carries painted motifs on the cheeks and a mauve wash across the brow and nose, perhaps showing the facial painting worn by the potter's community. The form is utilitarian, but the painting turns the jar into a portrait of adornment. The Hiwi, called Sikuani in their own language and long known to outsiders as Guahibo, are one of the largest Indigenous peoples of the Orinoco Llanos. These are the broad grasslands and gallery forests that straddle the border between Colombia and Venezuela. Painting the face and body with plant pigments such as red annatto (onoto) and blue-black genipa is a well-documented part of Hiwi personal adornment. The linear and dotted patterns painted on figural vessels like this one echo that tradition, so the clay surface carries the same designs a person might wear on their skin. A Certificate of Authenticity will accompany all winning bids. Item # 206093

Estimate:£263.04

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