Large Glazed Earthenware Crocodile Figure, Yellow & Green Polychrome

A large hollow-cast earthenware crocodile modeled in the round and finished in a mottled amber-yellow and green lead glaze over a buff-to-ochre body. The figure crouches on four splayed, clawed feet with jaws parted to reveal individually formed teeth painted in cream and rose; the eyes are inset and red-rimmed, with green wash worked along the brow and spine. The dorsal ridge is built up in high-relief rounded scutes; the flanks carry a dense network of glaze crazing worn through at the high points to expose the darker body beneath. Scale work on the belly and limbs is incised rather than modeled — a production shortcut that distinguishes the underside from the more elaborately worked dorsal surface, and a useful marker for anyone trying to place the piece regionally or temporally.

The figure is cast as a single hollow form with a vent hole pierced through the underside to release firing gases — standard practice for large-format earthenware sculpture, and a structural feature that confirms hand production rather than slip-cast industrial output. The amber-yellow ground with green dribbled overglaze, the buff body, and the lead-style glaze chemistry place this within a broad tradition that includes Mexican Talavera-influenced folk pottery, Spanish colonial earthenware, and certain Central American figural ceramics. The crocodilian form — thickset, anatomically specific, and distinctly New World in character — is also offered in this sale as a hand-carved polychrome wood figure (see companion lot), making this a rare opportunity to acquire two interpretations of the same subject in contrasting materials and techniques.

CONDITION

Very Good. No chips and no remarkable structural damage; craquelure is present throughout the glaze, consistent with age and lead-glaze chemistry, with high-point wear exposing the ochre body at the dorsal ridge and limb joints. A firing vent hole pierces the underside. Felt display pads have been applied to the feet.

DIMENSIONS / SPECIFICATIONS

• Overall: 8" H × 24" L × 12" W
• Weight: 8 lbs
• Material: Glazed earthenware, unmarked
• Construction: Hollow cast, open interior with underside firing vent