Description
Bowl with Human Supports
This vessel is associated with the material culture of the Gran Nicoya archeological area (present-day Guanacaste/Nicoya in Costa Rica). A harmonious design in reddish, dark brown and cream tones, this elegant tripod crocodile deity vase – which was buried with the elite of that era to imbibe their drinking chocolate and corn liquor in the afterlife – cleverly incorporates this all important effigy-type related to fertility rites practised by this shaman-led society. Within the cosmology of these pre-European societies of northwestern Costa Rica, a powerful medicine man could shapeshift into his crocodile form.
- Size: 13 1/2″ (34.25 cms) tall
- Pre Columbian Art
- AD 500 – 750
