Photographer: Andrea Blumtritt | Rights management: Ethnologisches Museum, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin
Attribution - NonCommercial - ShareAlike 4.0 International
Small, vertical bent handle with wall attachment. The flat handle has a raised, hollow head protome. The object has been smoothed and slurried on both sides. Its exterior is primed and painted. The primer and paint are heavily eroded. The protome has a fracture. The fragment has a white-yellowish ground colour, which was painted red on the outside of the object. The head protome has deep-set eyes and a fragmented beak. It appears to belong to an owl-like creature. The vertical part of the handle also represents the body of the modelled creature. The horizontal part of the handle possibly symbolises the figure's wings. Its legs (feet) are also fragmented. Below the protome are attached, knob-shaped applications. The wall breaks at the base of the handle. 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.). Their decoration shows a strong Mesoamerican influence. The ceramics served as supra-regional trade goods. (Künne 2004)
