Featured Primitive Terracotta Bowl

I bought this bowl at auction today simply because it looks interesting. It was catalogued as a studio type bowl but I don’t think it is studio pottery.

it’s large and measures 44cm in diameter and 12cm deep.

My thoughts are possibly African or Middle East and fairly old too,

I would welcome any thoughts.

 

I'd have bid on that, for sure; it's most attractive. Very nice work, John!

 

It's beautiful.

 

Definitely has a native or indigenous vibe to me. Cool.

 

Great characterful looking bowl. It does look old. I would have definitely had a go at it!

 

The bottom seems to be dead-flat...as if it were string-cut from the wheel. Can you say anything about that possibility?

 

Interesting observation Whit,i googled 'potters wheel'-
'The oldest forms of the potter's wheel (the slow wheel) was probably in use by around 3500 BC in the Near East, they were turned slowly by hand or foot while coiling a pot. It was used by a limited number of potters.The introduction of the slow wheel increased the efficiency of hand-powered pottery production.
In the mid to late 3rd millennium BC the fast wheel was developed.

 

I like that. Might be north African.

 

Good research, Bosko...does slow wheel relate only to coiling...an' fast wheel would be for thrown work?
You can tell I don't know much about wet clay, eh?

 

Yes it is dead flat.

 

Might be South America: Brazil, Peru... like that. It's the clay makes me think that.

This is Brazilian:

 

Re-'does slow wheel relate only to coiling...an' fast wheel would be for thrown work?'.
Whit- i'm in no way an expert,but with 2 minutes of study under my belt,i'd guess in the early phases of wheel pottery a coiled structure would be placed on a wheel,smoothed and refined.As the technique evolved-the pre-coil prep technique prob dissapeared,and a lump of moist clay was as they say-'thrown'.

 

From a long ago High-School art class, I seem to recall that 'thrown' had to do with first having to literally throw a wad of wet clay onto the wheel with enough force that it would adhere sufficiently to allow manipulation at wheel speed without slipping. But my memory has been called into serious question, especially in recent years, so...

 

Sounds accurate to me-Interesting that 3K plus years ago they combined coiling and the so-called 'slow wheel' to learn how to efficiently craft a vessel.I suppose this early hybrid method was akin to training wheels on a bike.
Kind of like US citizens training their brains to exercise 'critical thinking' in the ritual called an election,a novel new use of their formative brains.

 

Kind of like US citizens training their brains to exercise 'critical thinking' in the ritual called an election,a novel new use of their formative brains.[/QUOTE]

Congratulations. You have been able to access and evaluate the brains and learning capacity of over 300 million people, simply because they were born in America, or have become American citizens. There is a word for that way of thinking, and it is not "critical".