Bowl with Humans and Birds
Unknown Artist
c. 1250–1550
Medium
earthenware with colored slips
Dimensions
h. 11.4 cm · diameter: 11.5 × 19.5 cm
Classification
Ceramic
Department
Art of the Americas
Museum
Cleveland Museum of Art
Credit
John L. Severance Fund
Accession Number
1995.42
About this artwork
In the Nariño region of southwestern Colombia, the dead were buried in shaft tombs, the most elaborate up to sixty feet deep and furnished with offerings such as these bowls. Colombian ceramics are not much studied and little can be said about their imagery, which reveals a keen interest in geometric abstraction. Depicted here are a row of figures with thatch-roofed huts, humans attacked by birds, and spiders.