Footed Vessel with Step-Fret and Circular Design

Footed Vessel with Step-Fret and Circular Design

1000–1350 CE
Locale
Reportedly from the site of La Guinea, Guanacaste, Costa Rica
Country
Nicaragua
Style/Tradition
Papagayo Polychrome
Object
vase
Medium
Ceramic
Accession Number
1995.827
Credit Line
Gift of Frederick and Jan Mayer

Unknown artist, Reportedly from La Guinea, Guanacaste, Costa Rica. Footed Vessel with Step-Fret and Circular Design, 1000–1350 CE. Ceramic, 11 x 5 inches. Denver Art Museum Collection: Gift of the Collection of Frederick and Jan Mayer, 1995.827.

Dimensions
height: 11 in, 27.9400 cm; width: 5 in, 12.7000 cm
Department
Mayer Center, Arts of the Ancient Americas
Collection
Arts of the Ancient Americas
This object is currently on view

Ovoid Vase
Papagayo Polychrome style
About A.D. 800–1250
Nicaragua (reportedly found at La Guinea, Guanacaste, Costa Rica)
Earthenware with colored slips
Gift of Frederick and Jan Mayer, 1995.827

The form of this vessel, an elongated oval atop a shallow pedestal, is exceptionally elegant.  The slip-painted decoration, too, is beautifully executed, with bright colors and smooth, even lines.  The design is organized into horizontal registers of geometric and symbolic motifs.  A deep register on the lower vessel is decorated with a series of vertical feathers: each has a white base, a black shaft, and an orange tip.  

Scientific research on ceramic pastes has demonstrated that white-slipped wares like Papagayo Polychrome were produced in the Rivas region of Nicaragua.  These ceramics were transported south in considerable quantities into what is now Costa Rica, where they were deposited in graves as prized burial offerings.  Locally made imitations of Rivas pottery have dull, salmon-colored base coats, and must have been considered poor substitutes.

Known Provenance
(Enrique Vargas-Alfaro) [1915-2008], San Jose, Costa Rica and Atlanta, GA; Purchased by Frederick R. [1928-2007] and Jan Mayer, Denver, CO, October 23, 1971; Gifted to the Denver Art Museum, 1995