Ovaloid jug with a hollow base and flowing neck. There is a raised head protome on the wall. The object has been smoothed and polished on both sides. Its exterior is primed, painted and highly polished. The painting is partially eroded. The pottery has a white-yellowish base colour, which was painted red-orange and black-brown on the outside of the vessel. There is a frieze around the lower edge of the body consisting of vertical coloured areas. Below this is a high, circumferential frieze showing limb motifs and stylised zoomorphic depictions. It is interrupted by an anthropo-zoomorphic head protome with a red mouth mask and painted forehead. The central parts of the body are decorated with a surrounding frieze consisting of vertical red stripes. There are several circumferential bands on the base. Irregular traces of a white-yellowish ground appear on the inside of the vessel. According to Bransford 1881: Sta. Helena ware. According to Lothrop 1926: Nicoya polychrome ware, jaguar motifs. Cultural significance: the objects of the Papagayo Policromo group represent the beginning of polychrome painting on a white-yellowish ground in the Gran Nicoya region. The tradition lasted until the Policromo Tardío (1350-1520d.C.). Its decoration shows a strong Mesoamerican influence. This manifested itself in the replacement of lizard and bat themes with depictions of cats of prey and snakes. The ceramics served as supra-regional trade goods. (Künne 2004)