PRE-COLUMBIAN POTTERY
My interest in South American antiquities was first sparked about 20 years ago on a visit to Mexico and the ancient city of Coba, which was then being literally dug out of the jungle. I was so taken with Mayan culture that, as soon as I got home, I started scouring for pieces to buy. I found that pottery was relatively easy to source.
Styles vary hugely from culture to culture and I looked to other parts of the Americas for inspiration too. The Nazca, for instance, are known for zoomorphic designs (I have an enigmatic Nazca hummingbird bowl which looks eons ahead of its time) while, because of their bloodthirsty reputation, anything Aztec with a skull on it holds a morbid fascination. I have a large pottery fragment that is painted with rows of skulls – macabre but hauntingly beautiful. The Peruvian Chimú culture is renowned for stunning burnished blackware, a medium we now find difficult to replicate.
Figural zoomorphic pieces tend to be the most collectable, and erotic material is highly sought after too, but much rarer. You get a lot of ritual items and a few ornamental ones, but most are practical household objects – bowls and vessels – for instance. And they can be so very stylised – stirrup vessels for instance, might feature wolves’ or monkeys’ heads, or human features. They are remarkable.
Prices have declined recently, and while that’s not the best news for investors, it’s great for collectors. I have an incredible 2,000-yearold Colima figure, about 1.5ft tall – it’s one of my prized possessions. Once it would have made up to £12,000, but it’s now probably worth around £4,000–£5,000. And there’s plenty at the lower end of the market; you can buy a fragment of a terracotta clay figurine for £20–£40, or a Moche stirrup vessel from Peru for £400–£600.
Most good, collectable examples date from the 13th–16th centuries, but some of the pottery can look as good as the day it was made. The palettes tend to be muted – ochres and browns, but some cultures prefer bolder hues – the Maya use a lot of orange, black and red. And the pigments can remain bold and bright today. The colours on my Nazca hummingbird bowl are just wonderful.
Provenance is crucial. Fakes abound, and this kind of material is illicitly shipped, so steer clear of a piece if you don’t know what its history is. Spend some time looking closely at museum examples, and take advice before you buy anything. Good London antiquities dealers and big auction houses sell high- end pieces, but for mid-range, seek out antiquities sales at the provincial salesrooms.