Effigy Bowl

The Chorrera art style developed from the Valdivia tradition and spread throughout the southern coastal and adjacent inland regions. This was a time of social, political, economic, and artistic innovations prompted by agricultural improvements and a growing population. New settlements and towns, with ever-larger numbers of inhabitants, triggered the need for methods to manage village life and ensure the well-being of the community, which, in turn, led to greater social hierarchy. Hand-in-hand with the growing social complexity was the appearance of more complex religious practices. Both developments encouraged the desire for novel artworks to express the new sociopolitical and spiritual ideologies that characterize this dynamic time throughout ancient Ecuador. At this time, the earlier Valdivia figurine tradition developed into an elaborate figural art form with such novel artistic expressions as the elegant, mold-made sculptures of the Jama Coaque and La Tolita styles of Ecuador's northwestern coastal region. Artists manipulated the human figure to serve as the primary form for vessels. The Chorrera-style bowl features a prone human body as its upper section lying atop the vessel's platform-like base. The artist accentuated the plain body by applying red slip paint to the head, feet, inside rim of the vessel opening, and its base. The figure wears ear spools, and the closed eyes and slightly open lips suggest a ritual pose.

Provenance

Provenance (from the French provenir, 'to come from/forth') is the chronology of the ownership, custody, or location of a historical object.

Acquired by Michael Robins; purchased by John G. Bourne, Santa Fe, New Mexico, 1995; given to Walters Art Museum, 2013.