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Pedestal dish
Panama (Conté style)
Conte period VI-A
AD 600-800
Object Place: Panama, Gran Coclé area
Medium/Technique
Earthenware with slip paint
Dimensions
Height x diameter: 14.1 x 28.6 cm (5 9/16 x 11 1/4 in.)
Credit Line
Gift of Timothy Phillips in honor of Thomas F. Phillips, Jr.
Accession Number2015.3299
CollectionsAmericas
ClassificationsCeramics – Pottery – Earthenware
DescriptionPedestal plate whose form recalls that of hallucinogenic mushrooms ingested by shamans to assist their journey to the spirit realm. The painted imagery features a composite being with stingray-boa-lizard-hammerhead shark features, its body profusely marked with spiked motifs that overrun the pictorial field. These elements combine to bewilder the viewer by confusing the distinction between form and space, and thereby imitate the shaman's presence in the other world while simultaneously inhabiting the human realm. The artist rendered the creature in an upside-down position to further denote the “other” world of alternate orientations.
Provenance1960s, acquired in Panama by Dr. Edward Howell (b. 1926 – d. 1998), Danville, PA [see note]; by inheritance to his widow, Jacqueline Howell, New Orleans; 2013, sold by Mrs. Howell to M. S. Rau Antiques, New Orleans; 2013, sold by Rau Antiques to Timothy Phillips, Boston; 2015, year-end gift of Timothy Phillips to the MFA. (Accession Date: February 24, 2016)
NOTE: According to a signed and notarized statement from Dr. Howell’s widow (February 18, 2013). Dr. Howell served as a flight surgeon in the U.S. Air Force during the early 1960s, at which time he was stationed in Peru. He formed much of his Pre-Columbian collection at that time. Panama, where he is believed to have acquired this piece, was the primary refueling stop between the U.S. and Peru.
NOTE: According to a signed and notarized statement from Dr. Howell’s widow (February 18, 2013). Dr. Howell served as a flight surgeon in the U.S. Air Force during the early 1960s, at which time he was stationed in Peru. He formed much of his Pre-Columbian collection at that time. Panama, where he is believed to have acquired this piece, was the primary refueling stop between the U.S. and Peru.