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Clay vessel

Small vessel consisting of a horizontal, bean-shaped (shoe-shaped) body with a round mouth. The object has a broad, flattened lip. There are applied decorations on the body depicting a cat-like face. Both sides of the vessel have been smoothened and smudged. Its exterior is primed, painted and lightly polished. The primer and paint are partially eroded. The pottery has a white-yellowish base colour, which is painted red-orange and black-brown on the outside of the vessel. Two wavy bands run around the mouth of the vessel and are intertwined (guilloche motif). The opposite part of the body is decorated with a bimorphic face with applied (eyebrows, eyes, nose) and painted (moustache) attributes. They seem to refer to a feline predator. Symbolic meaning: the guilloche motif is often interpreted as two serpent's bodies intertwined (Ferrero 1975: 405). According to 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 ground. The group was mainly documented in the valley of the Río Tempisque and only rarely occurs north of Bageces (Costa Rica). Although the inventoried object has no salmon-coloured grounding, it can only be assigned to the Jicote Policromo group according to Bonilla et al. 1987. 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: 6,8 cm
Depth: 12,8 cm
Width: 5,9 cm
Diameter: 2,5 cm
Wandstärke: 0,7 cm
Material/Technique
Sound
Current location
Ethnologisches Museum, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin
Inventory number
IV Ca 45706

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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