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Clay vessel

Small, spherical jug with a short, slightly protruding neck. There is a facial depiction on the body with pressed-out and applied attributes. The object has been smoothed on both sides, slurried, primed, painted and polished. The painting is partially eroded. The restored pottery has several fractures and flaking. The pottery has a white-yellowish base colour, which is almost completely painted red on the outside of the vessel. There is a high, circumferential frieze on the body, which is bordered by circumferential black lines. It is subdivided into four white-yellowish panels, which are separated from each other by bundles of red lines. The central panel shows a bimorph face that combines sculptural and figurative attributes. The other sectors consist of horizontal, black bands in which "Kan crosses" and wavy lines appear. The base of the vessel and the inside of the neck are painted red. Symbolic meaning: in Classic Maya iconography, "Kan crosses" were often associated with celestial bands. Lothrop interprets the same motifs as stylised snake eyes. According to the same author, however, the crosses can also be understood as silhouette jaguar, type B. The bimorph facial sculpture seems to allude to a lizard creature. According to Lothrop (1926): Nandaime ware. Cultural significance: the mould inventory of the group comprises exclusively jugs, which often have a spherical body. Their diagnostic decoration clearly indicates a typological relationship with the Mora Policromo group (1200-800d.C.). (Künne 2004)

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Data Provider
Ethnologisches Museum
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Cataloguing data

Object type
crock
Dimensions
Öffnung: 3,9 cm
Objektmaß: 12,2 x 13,4 x 14,4 cm
Wandstärke: 0,6 cm bis 0,85 cm
Material/Technique
Sound
Current location
Ethnologisches Museum, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin
Inventory number
IV Ca 44852

Provenance and sources

when
Policromo Medio (800 - 1350)
where
Costa Rica
Guanacaste [Provinz]
Santa Rita [Ort]

who
Lehmann, Walter - Collectors

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