Rare and Largest Pre-Columbian Hand Stamp (“Sello”)
Jama-Coaque, Ecuador
350 BC – AD 600
H 6.5″ x W 4.125″ x D 2.5″
14cm x 10.2cm x 6.3cm
Used to stamp its striking design onto textiles, human bodies, onto walls of dwellings and caves, and into clay objects before firing. Note the handle on the back. Several ancient cultures throughout the world used the open hand as an important graphic symbol.
Provenance: Michael Higgins, an engineer who lived in Ecuador 1960s and then collected and dealt Pre-Columbian and Native American art, then 1990s Frank Hill, long a collector and dealer of art of the Americas, Santa Fe.
$5000
