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Clay vessel base

Leg of a hollow, seated sculpture. The fragment was smoothed, slurried, primed, painted and polished. The primer and paint are partially eroded. The ceramic has a white-brownish base colour, which is painted black-brown and red on the outside of the object. The short leg is decorated with a square field whose linear motifs imitate textile or wickerwork. The base and end of the leg are painted red. Symbolic meaning: Stevenson-Day (1997) interprets the anthropomorphic sculptures of the Guabal variant as female shamans. According to Lothrop 1926: highland polychrome ware. Cultural significance: the ceramics of the Mora group were produced in the north-west of Costa Rica and traded to the Central Highlands and the Atlantic region of the country. It uses design elements (seated anthropomorphic figures with headdresses, mat motif, Kan cross) that are also known from the Maya ceramics (Copador group) of the Clásico Tardío (900-600d.C.). Compared to the anthropomorphic sculptures of the zoned two-colour pottery (Rosales Esgrafiado) and the Policromo Antiguo (Galo Policromo group), the anthropomorphic figures of the Mora group show greater representational schematism. There were originally 168 objects from Isla Chira that belonged to the W. Lehmann archaeological collection. (Künne 2004)

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Data Provider
Ethnologisches Museum
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Cataloguing data

Object type
Clay vessel base
Dimensions
Objektmaß: 5,6 x 3,8 x 3,6 cm
Material/Technique
Sound
Current location
Ethnologisches Museum, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin
Inventory number
IV Ca 48882

Provenance and sources

when
Policromo Medio (800 - 1350)
where
Costa Rica
Punta Arenas [Provinz]
Chira [Insel]

who
Lehmann, Walter - Collectors

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