Gift of Frances Pratt

Gift of Dr. Milton and Madeline Gardner

These knee- high moccasins have a turned over flap on the top that is longer in back than front and is fringed. A separate band of hide is trimmed with beadwork and sewn down the front of the leg, overlapping the base of the foot. Another band of beadwork runs around the bottom of legging where it joins.

The Cupisnique people produced carved stone bowls embellished with complex mythological beings. The figure on this vessel represents a spider with two human arms and legs, and eight radiating trophy heads. It holds a knife in one hand and a decapitated head in the other. A snake emerges from a Strombus shell in the genital area.

The trophy heads allude to the figure’s supernatural powers. The spider may be associated with fertility rituals and stories of human sacrifice.

Museum Collection Fund

Wooden mirror handle with carvings that portray a well-dressed individual, standing on a small pedestal, holding a trophy head in each hand. The individual wears a tunic with sleeves, a crescent-shaped headdress, and a collar with a serpent head. On the figure's tunic, headdress, legs, and elsewhere are triangles in relief. On the handle, collar, and headdress are turquoise bead inlays. Around the inlays are traces of red pigment. The eyes of the central figure as well as the eyes of the trophy heads are inlaid with thin sheets of gold that are covered over with red pigment. In the back of the carving is a shallow circular cavity which probably held a pyrite mirror. Condition: The front of the proper left side of the handle is damaged; the headdress of the central figure is chipped, broken, and repaired; the tunic has two gouges; the hair of each trophy head is chipped along the edges; the end of the handle is cracked. The object reveals overall surface wear.

Frank L. Babbott Fund

Figure of a man carrying a cacao pod. Left hand holds stem attached to top of pod; right hand rests on middle of pod. Eyes and mouth are open. Traces of red pigment are visible around mouth, ear and central ornament on figure's headdress. Figure wearing traditional loincloth (maxtlatl). Right arm is cracked and repaired; feet are broken off; small section of stone on finger near knuckle of right hand is missing; some surface chipping overall.

Effigy vessel in the form of a human figure playing an ornate panpipe or antara, standing adjacent to a llama. The mouth of the vessel is located on the llama's back. Cream, white, red, orange and black slips embellish the surface. Condition: good; a top element of the headdress is missing.