Code: 2704
Description: A reddish-brown terracotta subspherical vessel with out-turned lip and a thin moulded ridge below the rim at the maximum body width. Two small grotesque heads modelled on the shoulder, each with one hand holding the mouth, and with two broad flexed bands containing moulded circles on the shoulder between the heads. The lower bowl has three short feet modelled as stylised faces. Some minor surface wear, some black staining on the lower bowl and some cracks on the base, but sound.
Size: 112 mm/4.4 ins. high and 101 mm/4 ins. in diameter at the rim
Culture: Costa Rica
Date: c. 800-1500 A.D.
Provenance: Ex Desmond Morris (born 1928) Collection, Oxford, and acquired at Sotheby’s London on 27 July 1971.
Background: Desmond Morris is a renown author (best known for his best seller ‘The Naked Ape’ published in 1967), zoologist, surrealist painter and passionate collector, noted for his collection of ancient Cypriote pottery, published as a sumptuous volume by Phaidon in 1985 (‘The Art of Ancient Cyprus’) which although out-of-print remains the best reference available for ancient Cypriote pottery. He first started collecting postage stamps as a small boy and then moved on to fossils and minerals, then seashells, then tribal art, then modern art, then ancient Cypriote art, amassing some 1100 fine Cypriote objects. He then moved on to collect Russian icons, and amassed a fine collection of Precolumbian art, then he moved on to Chinese art and finally assembled a collection of Algerian Berber pottery. He bought almost all his pieces at Sotheby’s and Christie’s in London, when there was far more on the market than there is now, although he also bought some objects from dealers in London, New York and Europe. Following the death of his wife, Desmond sold much of his remaining collections (his famed Cypriote art collection had been sold much earlier to finance other collecting interests) and moved to a smaller house in Ireland to live near his family. We were fortunate to acquire a number of his Precolumbian pieces. Desmond always regarded it important to have one’s collection on display around you and not shut away in cupboards. His advice - only buy items that catch your eye and are somehow special. Perfect advice from a true connoisseur.
A rare opportunity to acquire an object from one of Britains’ most distinguished private collectors.
