*Cylindrical vase

*Cylindrical vase

with incised geometric motifs evoking the attributes of the Jaguar and Eagle gods, personified by claws and wings. The decoration on this vase is probably the origin of ideograms, precursors of a primitive script that later developed in the Maya culture. It is interesting to note the inventiveness and precision of the forms displayed, intended to send us a message from a world that has now disappeared. Orange terracotta, partly smoothed slip, incised decoration. Olmec, Las Bocas, Puebla, Mexico, 1150 - 900 B.C. 16 x 14.1 cm A thermoluminescence test from the QED laboratory will be provided to the purchaser. Provenance : - Former Samuel Dubiner collection since the 1950s - Galerie Mermoz, 2006 - Estate of Madame V.S., Switzerland Bibliography: the Jaguar,s children, pre-classic central Mexico, the Museum of Primitive Art New York, New York Graphic Society editions, Greenwich 1965, pages 27 to 39, for incised vases of this type.