Photographer: Andrea Blumtritt | Rights management: Ethnologisches Museum, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin
Attribution - NonCommercial - ShareAlike 4.0 International
Hollow, anthropomorphic head protome with wall attachment. There is a small opening on the chin of the protome. The object has been smoothed, slurried, primed, painted and polished. The primer is heavily darkened and appears to have burn marks. There is a break on the chin. The fragment has a white-yellowish base colour, which was painted red-orange and black. The anthropomorphic protome has an unusual face. It is very realistically modelled and has an almost individual expression. The figure appears to be wearing head and ear jewellery. Its open mouth is outlined in red. Social significance: the unusual object design possibly refers to an imitation. Cultural significance: the tradition of polychrome painting on a white-yellowish ground seems to have appeared in the Gran Nicoya region between 1550 and 750d.C. The ceramics decorated in this way also served as supra-regional trade goods. (Künne 2004)
