Photographer: Andrea Blumtritt | Rights management: Ethnologisches Museum, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin
Attribution - NonCommercial - ShareAlike 4.0 International
Very small, zoomorphic vascular flute with an inflated resonating body and two solid feet. There are two finger holes on the body and a short, conical mouthpiece. The instrument has been smoothed, sanded, primed, painted and lightly polished. The primer and paint are partially eroded. The head of the depicted creature is fragmented. The ceramic has a light brown base colour, which was painted red and black-brown. The shape of the object is reminiscent of an avimorphic creature. On its back is a rectangular pictorial field showing hatched, black-brown triangles. They seem to imitate the structures of textile or wickerwork. The picture field is bordered by broad red lines. The mouthpiece is painted red. The underside of the object remains undecorated. According to Lothrop 1926: highland polychrome ware. Cultural significance: the pottery of the Mora group was produced in the north-west of Costa Rica and traded to the Central Highlands and the Atlantic region of the country. It uses representational elements (seated anthropomorphic figures with headdresses, mat motif, Kan cross), which are also known from the Maya ceramics (Copador group) of the Clásico Tardío (900-600d.C.). The variant is related to the Gillén Negro sobre café claro (1350-1000d.C.) and Palmira Policromo (1350-1000d.C.) groups. (Künne 2004)
