Ella C. Woodward Memorial Fund

A. Augustus Healy Fund

Gift of Florence Walker

Frank Sherman Benson Fund and the Henry L. Batterman Fund

Museum Expedition 1933, Purchased with funds given by Jesse Metcalf

Usually found in funerary contexts, large jaguar effigy vessels with bold red and black designs on a light background were apparently highly desirable goods in ancient Costa Rica. Perhaps it was believed that objects depicting fierce predators such as the jaguar transferred their strength to the deceased. The selective placement of jaguar markings and imagery on this example suggests that the vessel represents a person and his jaguar alter ego. During trances Costa Rican shamans are believed to symbolically transform themselves into jaguars in order to move between natural and supernatural realms.

Usualmente encontradas en contextos funerarios, las grandes vasijas efigie con llamativos diseños en rojo y negro sobre un fondo blanco eran aparentemente muy cotizadas en la antigua Costa Rica. Quizás se creía que objetos que representaban fieros depredadores como el jaguar podían transferir su fortaleza al difunto. La posición selectiva de las marcas e imagen del jaguar en este ejemplo sugieren que la vasija representa a una persona y su alter ego jaguar. Durante los trances, se cree que los chamanes de Costa Rica se transforman simbólicamente en jaguares para moverse entre los mundos natural y sobrenatural.

Brooklyn Museum Collection

The object is an unevenly shaped bowl made from a low fired ceramicware. The inside of the bowl is covered with white slip upon which has been painted a design in dark red-bown pigment. The design consists of three dancing male figures. The faces of these figures have been left white except for a black masklike band across their eyes. Their heads are decorated with cross hatching; the figures hold staffs. The rim of the bowl has several chips missing. Two drilled holes are also in the rim. There is a blind crack extending from two fragmented sections along the rim. The object was broken into three large sections in the past and repaired. The overall surface is worn.

Abstract lightening and maze forms.

Dick S. Ramsay Fund