Collection of the Lowe Art Museum, University of Miami

Jar

Artist/Maker Greater Nicoya (Costa Rica)

Dateca. 1000-1350

Mediumpottery and slip paint

DimensionsOverall: 15 x 10 1/2 x 12 3/4 in. (38.1 x 26.7 x 32.4 cm)

ClassificationsContainers

Credit LineGift of Seymour Rosenberg

Terms

Object number72.016.009

On View

Not on view

Collections

Art of the Ancient Americas

DescriptionThe polychrome ceramics of Costa Rica have long been admired for their fine manufacture and brilliant colors. Even in antiquity they were widely traded north into the rest of Mesoamerica where they influenced local ceramic traditions. This large Pataky jar is a fine example of later Costa Rican polychrome art. A crouching jaguar has been added to the pear-shaped vessel, and the modeled jaguar head includes an open mouth with snarling teeth. Geometric bands in orange and gray along the rim and foot of the vessel symbolize the upper and lower worlds, positioning the jaguar as the master of the surface of the earth. Pataky is characterized by a large, ovoid or pear-shape body on a pedestal support, while the colors used were most often orange, red, and black on a white or cream slip. The jaguar iconography is representative of a man/jaguar myth, which was quite common among late period ceramics and is a defining feature of this style.