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Clay vessel

Small, two-part object consisting of a horizontal, bean-shaped (shoe-shaped) body with a short, conical neck. There are applied decorations on the body of the vessel. The pottery was smoothed and slurried on both sides. Its exterior is primed and painted. The primer and paint are almost completely eroded. There are small fractures on the rim. The pottery has a salmon-coloured undercoat. The outside of the vessel was probably painted in a polychrome colour, but this has been completely eroded. The body is decorated with a bimorph face. The eyebrows, eyes and nose seem to indicate a feline predator-like creature. The interior of the object remains undecorated. After Lothrop 1926: Zapatero ware. Cultural significance: the type is known both from burials and from settlement contexts. Its objects are characterised above all by their salmon-coloured base. The group was mainly documented in the valley of the Río Tempisque and only rarely occurs north of Bageces (Costa Rica). In the Gran Nicoya region, there was a long indigenous tradition of facial representations. Attached cat-like faces can already be found on the red, brushed wares of the Policromo Medio (1350-800d.C.). (Künne 2004)

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Data Provider
Ethnologisches Museum Show original at data provider

Cataloguing data

Object type
crock
Dimensions
Height: 5,6 cm
Depth: 9,2 cm
Width: 5 cm
Diameter: 2,4 cm
Wandstärke: 0,63 cm
Material/Technique
Sound
Current location
Ethnologisches Museum, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin
Inventory number
IV Ca 45751

Provenance and sources

  • Production
    when
    Policromo Medio (800 - 1350)
    where
    Costa Rica
    Guanacaste
    Santa Cruz
    Santa Bárbara
  • Assignment to a curated holding:
    American Archaeology

Information about the record

Legal status metadata
CC BY-SA 4.0 DEED
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