Human head effigies, both male and female,
were produced throughout most of Costa Rica's
artistic output. They usually serve as a functional
object and a cult related symbol. Such ceramics
as this one were of such a high quality only the
wealthy elite could afford them. They may have
served as funerary furnishings or as household
goods. Early polychromatic ceramics are
characterized by a tan slip painted with red and
black. This handsome vessel shows a finely
painted human face, probably male, with
intensely staring eyes, simply depicted teeth and
two 'winged' extensions in red on either side of
the mouth, which may represent speech scrolls.
This design of a solid bar fanning out into two
points is repeated below the eyes and above the
eye brows, thus completing the facial decoration.
The face may represent a shaman/priest of one
of the jaguar-crocodile cults which proliferated
in Mesoamerica. The artist here uses clever
touches of detail, such as the black swirls to give
the face and entire vessel an expressive and
dramatic appearance.
- (PF.3522)
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