Unknown Marajoara artist, Marajó Island, Brazil. Female Figure Funerary Urn, 400–1500 CE. Slip-painted ceramic, 27 ¾ x 15 inches. Denver Art Museum Collection: Gift of the Collection of Frederick and Jan Mayer, 2006.20.

height: 27 3/4 in, 70.4850 cm; diameter: 15 in, 38.1000 cm

Mayer Center, Arts of the Ancient Americas

Arts of the Ancient Americas

Female Figure Funerary Urn
About A.D. 400–1300
Brazil, Marajó Island
White-slipped earthenware with pigment
Gift of Frederick and Jan Mayer, 2006.20 A-D

This burial urn is too small to hold an intact human body. Instead, the corpse was first buried or held in a temporary location until the flesh decayed. The bones were then cleaned and perhaps coated with red ochre pigment. The burial urn’s female form suggests rebirth in the afterlife.