Pre-Columbian Mesoamerican Costa Rican Rattle Leg Tripod Terracotta Vessel. Three primate figures at the top below the lip and above each leg. Clay-based, non-vitreous ceramic vessels in the classic porous reddish-brown color from archaic firing at relatively low temperatures, known as rattle leg tripod vases, often display bird or other tropical figures on the upper part. The three pronounced legs have slits through which small pottery beads are visible, and these make a rattling sound when the vessel is turned upside down. Rattle effects were extremely difficult to achieve but have been found throughout the ancient Central American, upper South American, Caribbean, and Southwest American regions, indicating it was likely used for ceremonial purposes or, potentially, as a warning or signaling sound to other members of the tribe or to drive away an approaching predator. Their uniqueness and high rate of failure makes them a particularly good find for collectors. 

Condition: Commensurate with age. 

Size: 8 x 8 x 9 3/4 in. 

Numerous cultural exchanges and innovations occurred in the thin and pivotal land bridge area that is now modern day Costa Rica and Panama due to its crucial position for trade and military routes. The dominant Mesoamerican cultures here were the Nicoya and the Chiriquí. The first was characterized by polychrome ceramics, whose shapes are reminiscent of the Mayan classical era, with representations of characters and animals including feathered snakes and crocodiles, and their most common products were hard stone club heads and axe-shaped pendants in the shape of divinities, carved, engraved and polished, always in hard stone. The second culture, which developed in southern Costa Rica and western Panama between 850 and 1525 A.D. is characterized by small ceramics with very thin walls, in a great variety of shapes, unpainted or with incised decoration in negative, bi-chrome. Another type of ceramic produced was that of globular vessels and tripod cups with conical feet or with decoration applied with zoomorphic effects, as well as the works of goldsmiths made using a lost wax technique. Both of these cultures flourished in the waning pre-Columbian days, and vacated their respective regions before the conquests of the Spanish and other European cultures due to environmental factors including numerous volcanic eruptions in the surrounding lands and particularly devastating hurricane seasons, similar to the causes of the downfall of the Mayans and the much earlier Olmecs.

Commensurate with age. 

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