Ancient Pre-Columbian Colima Redware Ceramic Gourd Vessel Circa 100 BC Ex-Museum

An important large Pre-Columbian Colima gourd with parrots, Comala style Protoclassic, circa 100 BC, Ex Museum collection. This beautifully burnished redware fluted vessel depicts domesticated or wild squash which are one of the many vegetable forms seen in the Comala style from Colima. Here parrots forming tripod supports eagerly nibble into the fruit. The vessel was collected in the late 19th century and latterly was housed in a museum and de-accessioned in the 1930s and thence private collection. The vessel with the museum accession number "6896" below. This vessel is a remarkable example in very good condition, and is a accompanied with a C.O.A. Literature: For a classic example see Richard F. Townsend, ed., Ancient West Mexico: Art and Archaeology of the Unknown Past, Chicago, 1998, p. 213, fig. 21.