Lot 297

Andean Silvered Coquera, Tureen Form with Bird Finial, ex-Holler & Saunders

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Lot 297
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Andean Silvered Coquera, Tureen Form with Bird Finial, ex-Holler & Saunders
Andean Silvered Coquera, Tureen Form with Bird Finial, ex-Holler & Saunders
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Andean Silvered Coquera, Tureen Form with Bird Finial, ex-Holler & Saunders

Estimate: $800 - $1,200

Starting Bid: $400

(0 Bids)
by Artemis Fine Arts
June 11, 2026 9:00 AM MDT
Live Auction
686 S. Taylor Avenue
Suite 108
Louisville, CO, US 80027

South America, Andean region (Bolivia or Peru), Republican period., ca. 1800 - 1999 CE. A substantial Andean coquera of silvered nickel silver, assembled from two components of related but distinct manufacture. The bowl, raised in gourd form on a stepped polygonal foot, carries two handles each formed as a pair of entwined serpents, their bodies coiling outward from the vessel wall in a gesture that owes something to indigenous Andean serpent symbolism and something to the Rococo Revival taste that swept Republican-era silverwork across the continent. The gourd form itself carries meaning: the calabash was among the first containers in Andean material culture, used to hold lime powder for coca chewing long before the silversmiths of the highlands cast its shape in metal. Size: 15.9" W x 12.4" H x 11.2" D (40.4 cm W x 31.5 cm H x 28.4 cm D)

The domed lid, not original to the bowl but sympathetic in scale and spirit, is worked in high-relief repousse with a generous program of fruits, vegetables, and foliate sprays, the whole crowned by a clustered finial of rounded forms among leaves, perhaps tomatoes or small gourds, rendered with the exuberance characteristic of Republican Andean workshop production. Where the bowl is silvered over the alpaca substrate, the lid presents as unplated nickel silver, the two components likely produced in different workshops or at different moments before finding each other in use or trade.

Coqueras of this scale and formal ambition were household objects of standing in the Andean Republican home, where the social ritual of coca sharing bridged indigenous practice and colonial inheritance with equal ease. The serpent handles are the piece's most arresting feature, rare among surviving examples and suggesting a workshop with stronger roots in indigenous iconographic tradition than the purely European-derived floral and fruit programs that dominate the type.

Provenance: Ex-private collection of Samuel Saunders, Nogales, AZ, partner of Holler & Saunders, Ltd., founded in 1979 and widely regarded as one of the preeminent authorities in Spanish Colonial and Mexican folk art.

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Item # 201758

  • Condition: Lid and vessel were not originally paired together. Some light indentations and surface wear, but, otherwise both are in excellent condition with good remaining detail.

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Bid Increments
From: To: Increments:
$0 $749 $25
$750 $1,499 $50
$1,500 $2,999 $100
$3,000 $7,499 $250
$7,500 $14,999 $500
$15,000 + $1,000