Pre-Columbian Costa Rican Pottery Ocarina (Whistle Figure)
Pre-Columbian Costa Rican Pottery Ocarina (Whistle Figure)
Pre-Columbian Costa Rican Pottery Ocarina (Whistle Figure)
Pre-Columbian Costa Rican Pottery Ocarina (Whistle Figure)
Pre-Columbian Costa Rican Pottery Ocarina (Whistle Figure)
Pre-Columbian Costa Rican Pottery Ocarina (Whistle Figure)
Pre-Columbian Costa Rican Pottery Ocarina (Whistle Figure)
Pre-Columbian Costa Rican Pottery Ocarina (Whistle Figure)
Pre-Columbian Costa Rican Pottery Ocarina (Whistle Figure)
Pre-Columbian Costa Rican Pottery Ocarina (Whistle Figure)
Pre-Columbian Costa Rican Pottery Ocarina (Whistle Figure)
Pre-Columbian Costa Rican Pottery Ocarina (Whistle Figure)
Pre-Columbian Costa Rican Pottery Ocarina (Whistle Figure)
Pre-Columbian Costa Rican Pottery Ocarina (Whistle Figure) Pre-Columbian Costa Rican Pottery Ocarina (Whistle Figure) Pre-Columbian Costa Rican Pottery Ocarina (Whistle Figure) Pre-Columbian Costa Rican Pottery Ocarina (Whistle Figure) Pre-Columbian Costa Rican Pottery Ocarina (Whistle Figure) Pre-Columbian Costa Rican Pottery Ocarina (Whistle Figure)

Pre-Columbian Costa Rican Pottery Ocarina (Whistle Figure)

17692

$295.00
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Greater Nicoya / Guanacaste region, Costa Rica, circa 800–1200 A.D.

A hollow burnished redware ocarina modeled as a standing anthropomorphic figure with a broad rounded head dressed in an incised cap or headdress decorated with geometric hatching, prominent coffee-bean eyes and ears, an applied nose, and a small mouth. The squat body has short arms drawn up to the chest and stands on stubby splayed legs with incised toes, the rounded form serving as the resonating chamber. Whistle hole pierced through the body, confirming its function as a working aerophone (ocarina). The surface retains a warm reddish-brown burnished slip with earthen deposits and root-marking consistent with age and burial. 

Size 3-1/2 inches (8.9 cm) Height.

Such figural whistles and ocarinas were a hallmark of the Greater Nicoya ceramic tradition spanning modern northwest Costa Rica and Pacific Nicaragua, where ceramic aerophones in human, bird, and animal form were produced in quantity for ritual, funerary, and musical use. Closely comparable Costa Rican pottery whistles and "doll whistle" figures of the Guanacaste-Nicoya region, circa 400–1200 A.D., are held in museum collections including the Metropolitan Museum and the Ashley Gibson Barnett Museum.

Condition: repair clean to head and functional with stable surface and patina; minor wear and deposits consistent with age. 

Provenance: Mr. Sid Hart, Cos Cob, Connecticut, acquired 1980s–1990s.

All pieces are unconditionally guaranteed authentic and as described in perpetuity and have been legally acquired and imported in full accordance with U.S. and applicable foreign regulations regarding the movement and sale of antiquities.

A signed guarantee of authenticity with a description and photograph of the item(s) accompanies this object.

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