Large Nicoya Polychrome Tripod Vessel w/ Rattle Legs- Lot 82c, Auction 4/25/2019
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Large Nicoya Polychrome Tripod Vessel w/ Rattle Legs- Lot 82c, Auction 4/25/2019

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Pre-Columbian, Central America, Costa Rica, Nicoya, ca. 800 to 1000 CE. An impressive ceramic bowl with three hollow rattle legs with mold-formed facial details painted in a polychrome palette. The interior basin depicts an abstract crab figure with sliver eyes and a curled mouth, its body painted in red spots over an orange ground, and wearing a three-part headdress, all surrounded by a register of red, orange, and white stepped shapes. The interior rim shows a register of two abstract anthropomorphic figures chasing one another while their feathered embellishments billow behind them. The legs are in the form of an anthropomorphic head with slender noses, bulging eyes and brows, lattice-adorned foreheads, and openwork nostrils and mouths. Given the elaborate decorative program and expert technique, this is a fine Nicoyan example which was most definitely made for a person of importance. Size: 9.5″ W x 6.625″ H (24.1 cm x 16.8 cm).

Condition: Two legs reattached with light resurfacing and overpainting along break lines. A couple of stable hairline fissures to body, with chips and abrasions to painted areas, and light encrustations. Nice earthen deposits and traces of original pigmentation throughout.

Provenance: ex-old private Florida, USA collection, acquired in the 1970’s

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