Saturday, September 7, 2013

Pre-Columbian Jaguar Metate

When we are in museums that include Pre-Columbian artifacts, we always look for items from Costa Rica.  This is a remarkable work of art in the Bowers Museum in Orange County, California.  It is a metate in the shape of a jaguar from between 300 and 700 A.D.

This came from our part of Costa Rica, the Nicoya peninsula of Guanacaste province, which is the source of most of the early, pre-Columbian pottery in Costa Rica.

Below is a photo of the information about this piece in the museum.

It always amazes me how ancient people, who must have struggled with basic survival, nevertheless took the time and trouble to be artistic in crafting everyday, practical items, such as a metate.

My wife and I love the Bowers Museum.  It features Asian, Pre-Columbian, and California art.  It has amazing special exhibitions.

We have new photos of the wildlife and people of Tanzania our Viva la Voyage travel photo site this week.

6 comments:

  1. Wonderful find, David. The human soul needs more than the basics to lift one's spirits. Art will always surface in societies because it is important to human's spiritual and intellectual well-being.

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  2. This is an amazing work of art. What is also amazing is that it survived so long.

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  3. Interesting piece, nice find, Dave!

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  4. This is a fascinating piece of ancient art. Given the struggle to survive in those days, it is remarkable that some found time to create lasting works of art. There must have been a religious or spiritual component to it.

    Your comment today was most interesting. I am sure Ken has struggled, but he is far less down on his luck than many. I found your quarterback but your MLB player has eluded me.

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  5. This is fascinating.
    I was at Musée du Quai Branly not long ago and was powerfully reminded of how our ancestors created beauty...

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