Terracotta Vessel with a Primate Covering its Mouth

The Silent Witness

Some gestures need no translation. A hand raised to the mouth can mean surprise, fear, wonder or a promise to keep silent, and this figure raises both.

The pose is strangely human. The primate sits upright with its knees drawn up, its elbows resting on them, its whole body folded around that single act of covering the mouth. Yet the mouth itself stays open behind the hands, as if the cry has already escaped.

The idea of the monkey who sees, hears or speaks no evil is found in many cultures, and it is tempting to think of it here. Whatever the maker intended, the figure invites us to wonder what it has witnessed.

Below, a tall panel of spirals runs down the front of the vessel like a ceremonial cloth. The rings on the limbs and the careful fingers and toes show the patient hand of its maker.

A footed globular vessel surmounted by a seated primate with both hands raised to its wide, open mouth. The head is crowned with rounded studs and framed by radiating, fan-shaped ears.

The long limbs are encircled with rings at the wrists and ankles. On the front of the body, below the figure’s feet, a tall panel is filled with spirals and bordered with notched clay. Traces of white and blue pigment survive on the surface.