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HOME :
Pre-Columbian Art :
Art of Costa Rica : Galo Polychrome Seated Female Figure
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Galo Polychrome Seated Female Figure - PF.3580
Origin: Costa Rica
Circa: 500
AD
to 1000
AD
Dimensions:
10" (25.4cm) high
Collection: Pre-Columbian
Medium: Terracotta
$4,200.00
Location: United States
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| Description |
This seated female figure comes from the
Guanacaste-Nicoya polychrome tradition, the
Galo polychrome style. Its mirror-bright
burnished surfaces are technically unsurpassed
by any Pre-Columbian pottery, and yellows, reds,
oranges, creams, maroons, and blacks of the
polychrome decorations are impressively vivid.
Among such sculptures are the full human
figures with elaborate representations of tattoos
or body paint. Such brilliant polychrome
tradition represent an important social
dimension; when the northern trade network
that brought jade, slate-backed pyrite mirrors,
foreign ceramics, and other luxury goods, the
Nicoyans responded by producing their own
special purpose pottery. Inspired by northern
models, it also incorporated local and southern
elements, forming a dazzling hybrid style that
was traded around Central America and southern
Meso-America in the centuries to come.
Elaborately decorated with colors and patterns,
this sculpted female sits on a raised, throne-like
seat like a dignified noble woman or a priestess.
A fine example of Galo polychrome figures, she
provides a wealth of ethnographic detail because
of the realistic style. Her headdress, earspools,
and body painting or tattooing are all vividly
shown. Her upper chest and the shoulders are
decorated with intricate cross-hatching pattern,
perhaps indicative of her high status or rank in
her society. Moreover, her entire legs are
enhanced in the similar manner. Seated on a
chair, she seems to glow with her grace and
poise. With her face held up straight, she is
clearly conscious of her feminine existence and
beauty.
- (PF.3580)
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