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Tripod vessel
Costa Rican
Period IV
A.D. 1–500
Object Place: Costa Rica, Atlantic Watershed region
Medium/Technique
Earthenware: brown slip paint
Dimensions
20.4 x 8.7 cm (8 1/16 x 3 7/16 in.)
Credit Line
Gift of Professor Emeritus F. H. Norton and the Department of Metallurgy and Materials Science at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Accession Number1971.496
CollectionsAmericas
ClassificationsCeramics – Pottery – Earthenware
The lizards (or perhaps alligators) embellishing the supports likely pertain to shamanic beliefs. Amphibians were common visual metaphors for shamans, as their life cycle of physical change exemplifies the shaman's spiritual transformation.
DescriptionJar with tall (16 cm) tripod supports. Each support is embellished with a modeled rendering of a lizard with long tail and three small spikes on its back and three on the top of its head. The base of the jar's outflaring neck is decorated with a wide, incised band of parallel lines broken at regular intervals by a wider incised, vertical line. Three appliquéd nubbins are attached to the body of the jar between each of the three supports. Extensive fire-clouding is found on the sides of the jar and the upper parts of the supports.
ProvenanceCollection of F.H. Norton, Massachusetts, by 1971; to MFA, November 1971, gift of F. H. Norton and the Dept. of Metallurgy and Materials Science at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.