Crocodilian style effigy jar from the Nicoya Region of Costa Rica. This superlative pear-shaped polychrome ceramic vessel has two protruding crocodile heads with a beautiful complex painted motif that stands on hollow rattle tripod legs. Openwork mouth prominently exposes his upper and lower teeth. Two continuous painted bands separate the lower crocodilian vessel from the vast panel effigy around the neck of the jar. A ritual imagery of Tlaloc is decorated between the upper and lower geometric designs. Buff Tan slip, burnished, with black and orange-red paint. Rare. Reassembled from large sections with restoration over breaks.
Early period VI, 1000 – 1550 AD
Measures 13″/33 cm in height.
Jaguar’s heads are the most commonly applied heads of such jars. Having a starring role in the religious and mythological concepts expressed through the designs on polychrome ceramics, the mighty crocodile prevailed in design schemes at an earlier period. This vessel’s added human or deity face makes it unique as both symbols are associated simultaneously with the rains, fertility, and life-giver.
Price $5,500
Nazca – Huari False Head Feather Mask
In the ancient Americas, skilled craftspeople made luxurious goods restricted for the right and the entitled. Their culture crafted these prized objects for ritual and regalia, using their most valued materials. Jade, rather than gold, was the most precious substance to the Olmecs and the Maya in Mesoamerica, and the Incas and their predecessors in the Andes valued feathers and textiles above all.
This is a rare “Elites” false head feather bundle from the Nazca Huari period. It is a remarkable and delicate mummy, face mask head, comprises Totoro reed stuffed with woven cotton gauze. Small, vibrant orange feathers are attached to the front, creating the face. The nose bundle is in relief, with black feathers applied for contrast. Eyes and mouth are made from copper sheets and sewn in. The crown is composed of two sections. The lower headband is a woven textile with colorful zoomorphic imagery. The upper is a bulky cotton gauze. The braided rope also adorns the entire head.
These “false heads” crowned the bulky funeral bales of an Elite tomb that characterized the time of the Wari/Huari expansion in the territories of the Nazca culture.
Measures 7″ in height, 7″ in width, 3″ in depth.
Southern, Peru. ca. 500 – 1000 AD.
Condition: Some loss of feathers otherwise Choice.
The Nazca-Huari elite false head masks incorporated feathers as a significant symbol of their culture. These feathers connected deeply to the spiritual realm and the natural world, embodying themes of freedom, flight, and divine symbolism within Nazca cosmology. The skilled artisans who crafted these masks used feathers to convey a deeper spiritual meaning and connect the wearer to the transcendent aspects of their belief system.
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Regional Division of Pre-Columbian Americas’ Major Archaeological Cultural Phases