Photographer: Andrea Blumtritt | Rights management: Ethnologisches Museum, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin
Attribution - NonCommercial - ShareAlike 4.0 International
Vessel pipe (?) in the shape of a small, seated, anthropomorphic figure spreading its outstretched legs. The sculpture is wearing a round cap and has both arms on its hips. The back of the head and legs have small openings. There is a ribbon-shaped eyelet in the neck of the figure, which was probably used for suspension. The pottery was smoothed, slurried, primed, painted and polished. The primer and paint are slightly eroded. The object has a white-brownish base colour, which is painted black-brown and red. On the figure's legs, shoulders and upper arms are panels with geometric motifs that appear to imitate textile or wickerwork. The panels are bordered by red bands. The sculpture has two clearly defined nostrils and wears a red mouth mask. Its head is covered with a round cap decorated with cross lattice structures. The back of the figure remains undecorated. According to Lothrop 1926: highland polychrome ware. Cultural significance: the anthropomorphic figures of the Mora group show greater representational schematism compared to the anthropomorphic sculptures of the zoned bicoloured pottery (Rosales Esgrafiado) and the Policromo Antiguo (Galo Policromo group). 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.). (Künne 2004)
