Monkey vessel (Simio)
- unknown artist
Unknown artist, Monkey Vessel, 1700s. Earthenware with clay slip paints; 13¼ × 1¼ × 7 in. Department acquisition funds, 2002.5.
The Indigenous ceramic tradition of slip-painted redware was continued throughout the colonial period in Mexico but influenced by European decorative designs. This hand-built hollowware vessel in the shape of a monkey continues the west Mexico tradition of effigy animal figures. The ancient Mexican technique of painting vessels with clay paints known as slips continued in the Mexican colonial period, but the motifs became less geometric and more floral, in line with Spanish tastes. This object serves as an excellent example of the conflation of Indigenous, European, and Asian traditions that occurred in art work during the Spanish Colonial period.
-- Donna Pierce, 2015