Featured Peru Shipibo-Conibo Pattern Squat Pot

My sincere apology, bluumz...I certainly should have checked your profile. No offense was intended...Please forgive my clumsiness.

 

Yeah...30,334 of 'em, so far. How'm I doin'?

 

as long as you can keep counting.....yer doin fine !!!

 

Your little pot is a miniature of a type of storage jar for liquids, called a "chomo". Shipibo-Conibo pottery is very thin walled, hard but brittle. Such small versions have been made for sale to tourists, being easier to transport with less risk of breakage.

The market for Shipibo-Conibo pottery took off after the completion of a highway in 1943, connecting the Ucayali region to the rest of the country (Peru) and opening it up to tourists and collectors.

Documented examples of Shipibo-Conibo pottery, with their distinctive painted geometric designs, occur in museum collections dating as far back as the 1860s-70s. Small changes in vessel shapes can be seen in the period between the 1860s and the 1940s, as well as innovations in the applied designs such as the introduction of incised lines and more curvilinear forms in the 1920s. More significant changes occur after the increased contact following the opening up of the region.

Pots incorporating human faces and arms ("huníchomo") appear in the 1950s, an innovation credited to the potter Casimira. The style proved very popular with collectors, but had no precedent in traditional Shipibo-Conibo forms.

As demand for their wares increased, potters responded by simplifying the painted designs. The traditional forms consist of heavier painted outlines, usually symmetrical in layout, filled with finer lines that are more meandering and asymmetrical. The more complex designs are esteemed in pottery made for their own use. But on wares made for sale the designs have become larger and less complex, often eliminating the fine interior lines completely.

The change in the designs is not, however, a simple linear progression. Some of the earlier pottery in museum collections is decorated quite simply, with broad, bold patterns. Some of the most complex designs can be found on pottery dating from the early 20th century. Looking at some modern huníchomo online, I see that the potters are incorporating dense interior lines, but in place of the traditional meandering, fine linear lines they are using repeated wavy lines.

On your little chomo, the potter chose to dispense with the work of adding fine interior lines. But she does appear to have taken the step of applying the traditional sealing coat of melted tree resin, which is what creates the yellowish glaze.

Myers, Thomas. Looking Inward: the Florescence of Conibo/Shipibo Art During the Rubber Boom. https://www.researchgate.net/profil...factos-y-sociedad-en-la-Amazonia.pdf#page=131

https://lammuseum.wfu.edu/2023/10/shipibo-conibo-ceramic-vessel/

Lathrap, Donald W. Shipibo Tourist Art. In: Ethnic and Tourist Arts: Cultural Expressions from the Fourth World. edited by Nelson H.H. Graburn, pp. 197-210. University of California Press, Berkeley, 1976.


My two small Shipibo-Conibo jars -

 

No worries!
I don't know the gender of most people on here, either. And I am aware that my current avatar is of a male American robin, which may be misleading. I just thought he looked fab!

 

Gender's a real prob these days-I'm 72 and can't recall if I'm a He,She,It or Nudibranch anymore.

 

I highly doubt whether most folk could tell if that robin is a boy or girl !!!

Some.......may not even see a bird !!!

but he is lovely !!! all fluffed up !

 

Fact!

 

I am so grateful for your lengthy discussion, an' the 2 informative links...Wonderful, books! Thank you!!

 

Those are lovely, 2many. The one on the right especially, is very expressive.

These are the ones I was talking about before:

 

Very nice selection of the different shapes, Any. You don't see bowls available very often.

 

Now that you mention it, I don't think I've ever seen another one, although they must be out there. These were all bought here in the Netherlands.

I also have two traditional skirts, one painted like the pottery, and the other embroidered and appliquéd with the same motifs. I bought the skirts in Peru.

 

That's an amazingly helpful answer @2manybooks. Thank you.

Since we're sharing, here's my recent acquisition:

 

Nice bold design and colouring, Pottery.
Did you know its origin when you bought it?

 

Thanks. Yeah I did. (I have a couple others too.) This local antique dealer was having a clearance sale, and told me this one was late 19th C, but I doubted that very much. I went back to the sale on Sunday for the 50% prices and sure enough, it was still there so I got it for a really good price.

 

I would guess that the vast majority of Shipibo-Conibo pots floating around are post 1945-50s, at the earliest.

 

This same guy also had a couple pots he claimed were pre-columbian, but that's another area where I'm hesitant and reluctant unless the piece is crazy cheap. It's just impossible to tell (for me at least).