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Bowl with animal head legs

Photo: Elizabeth Mann

Bowl with animal head legs

Greater Nicoya high-status grave offerings included decorated ceramics that often depicted predatory animals—such as crocodiles, jaguars, and harpy eagles—as well as human (shaman?) figures with non-natural traits, like wings and animal heads. This tripod bowl with rattles in the legs contains stylized bird heads painted inside the bowl and anthropomorphic heads with teeth and enormous tongues that form the tripod legs.
Ceramic with paint
4 3/4 in. (12.07 cm)
Diam.: 8 1/2 in.
Eugene Fuller Memorial Collection
48.243
Photo: Elizabeth Mann
location
Now on view at the Seattle Art Museum

Resources

Exhibition HistorySeattle, Washington, Seattle Art Museum, Cosmic Beings in Mesoamerican and Andean Art, Nov. 10, 2018 - ongoing.

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