Summer Fine Art and Collectibles Auction
Lot 25A:
Description
A small Pre-Columbian ceramic bird whistle or vessel whistle, about palm-sized, global body with three finger holes, yellow ochre glaze over a reddish clay body on a flat pedestal base. There is a rear opening for a reed tube. The bird whistle was found on the HMS Astrae shipwreck in the Piscataqua River near Pierce Island by professional diver Raymond Demers. The HMS Astrae was an original 20 gun Spanish ship captured in 1739 by Vice Admiral Vernon during the battle of Porto Bello Panama. The ship accidently burned in Portsmouth NH in 1743. Spanish ships had been transporting Indigenous artifacts from Mexico and Central America to Europe for over 200 years, with Naval officers and merchants sometimes keeping unusual ethnographic objects.The bird whistle closely matches those found in Costa Rica know for global bodies and 3 to 4 finger holes. Western Mexico has also similar whistles. The Metropolitan Museum has a Cupisnique (Peru, 1200–500 BCE) bird whistle with a large rear opening and finger holes, a construction that is surprisingly similar in principle to this object. Provenance: Found by professional diver Raymond Demers and published in his book “Piscataqua Discoveries” pp. 78 which is also included. Dimensions: 4″ H
Condition report:
Imperfections, wear, losses to the glaze and mineral staining
Share this lot:
