Published Terracotta Vessel of the Tairona Culture in Form of a Seated Female Dignitary

Culture: Tairona/Northern Columbia

Period: 1000-1450 A.D.

Material: Terracotta

Dimensions: 24.2 cm high

Price: 6 000 Euro

Ref: 11010

Provenance: Austrian private collection Prof. Josef M. (1938-1994) with the inventory number M 29. Acquired between 1960 and the early 1980s. Thence in the family estate. With a handwritten collection note and a copy of the catalogue page.

Condition: A small missing part on the back of one of the plaits and on the right corner of the mouth of the figure. Otherwise excellently preserved.

Description: Important figurative terracotta vessel in form of female dignitary seated on a stool. The exceedingly in detail modelled vase depicts a woman of the Tairona culture from the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta, the highest coastal mountains in the world in Northern Colombia. The stylized, hollow statuette with a flat, biconical head with a high nose, button eyes and small ears with large decorative rings. At the back five braided plaits cascade to the nape. The mouth with bulging lips, where opulent pendants are affixed. On the head a funnel-shaped attachment, which at the same time forms the rim of the vase. The dignitary sits on a low stool. Her arms with pierced elbows rest on her knees. A necklace frames her small breasts, vertically two parallel dotted bands run between the button-formed nipples, possibly a tattoo. The undressed woman has a ribbed chain tied around her voluptuous hips, which frames the exposed vulva. The emphasis on the female private parts of this figure vase underlines that this vessel was used for fertility rites. Published in: Josef Mairitsch “Columbus am Wörthersee. Amerika vor Columbus.” Catalogue for the special exhibition of the cultural department of the state capital Klagenfurt on 1 June to 31 October 1992, page 49, no. 5.02. But there incorrectly described as “chief”.