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HOME :
Pre-Columbian Art :
Art of Costa Rica : Papagayo Vessel With Serpent Motif
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Papagayo Vessel With Serpent Motif - PF.3723
Origin: Guanacaste, Nicoya, Costa Rica
Circa: 1000
AD
to 1500
AD
Dimensions:
10.5" (26.7cm) high
Collection: Pre-Columbian
Medium: Terracotta
Location: United States
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| Description |
With colors as brilliant as the ones on this vessel,
we react to its outstanding beauty and recall the
past as it may have been at the point that this
vessel was made. This red clay is richly painted
in a white slip and then decorated in burnished
red, orange and black. The main part of the
vessel is a stylized gourd shape while standing
on a simply decorated foot, so as not to distract
from the body of the work. Both the foot and the
rim are decorated in painted geometric forms,
while the centerpiece displays a magnificent
stylized serpent with large, expectant eyes and a
fierce, sharp mouth with a protruding tongue.
The sleek body of the serpent is smooth to the
touch yet the artist shows the scales with
geometric patterning on either side of the body.
Such skill and precision from the artist allows us
to visualize not only what the artist felt, but also
what he was trying to relate with his creation,
perhaps not knowing that people would still be
able to enjoy his work so many years into the
future.
- (PF.3723)
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