LARGE XOCHIPALA INCISED BOWL EARLY PRECLASSIC, CIRCA 1200-900 BC

Xochipala greenstone bowls from the north-central region of Guerrero represent a highly localized style of the Early Preclassic Olmec era. The stone bowls feature finely incised zoomorphic and stylized forms against a tightly etched background; the images usually repeat on each side in a symmetrical form, whereby joining the two images illustrates the complete effigy image.

This bowl is carved on each side with a large lunate eye above the tightly undulating "legs", with feet angled upward to the rim. The densely etched ground provides a strong contrast to the smooth and dark zoomorphic imagery.

For a bowl in the Los Angeles County Museum of Art with highly similar iconography, see mayavase.com K6554 (inv. no. M.2010.115.715); for other Xochipala incised bowls in the collection see mayavase.com K7093 (inv. no. M.2010.115.305), K7094 (inv. no. M.2020.115.438) and K7095 (inv. no. M.2010.115.439); also see Berrin and Fields, eds. Olmec: Colossal Masterworks of Ancient Mexico, San Francisco, 2010, pl. 105 (inv. no. M.2000.54.1). Another example is in the Yale University Art Gallery, New Haven (inv. no. 2017.14.12).