Shallow Clay Bowl, Attributed Mimbres Culture, New Mexico

9th to 12th century, black on white ground with imaginative figurative designs unique to the Mimbres people, in this case a small bird. Hand printed below rim "OLD TOWN / RH West 1930".

3 x 7 x 7 3/4 in.

If the bowl appears shaped like a cranium that's because such bowls were often placed over the head of the deceased in burial sites. Similar examples: Cincinnati Art Museum; Met Museum, Michael Rockefeller Wing.

Partially broken and reassembled; central hole.

$2,000 - 4,000