Bidspirit auction | Rare Pre-columbian Nicoya Ritual Potosí

Rare Pre-columbian Nicoya Ritual Potosí Applique Censer - Rare Pre-columbian Greater Nicoya Potosí Applique Potosi Variety Censer, modeled clay with slip, featuring an ornate ”fantastic” reptile -crocodile or lizard effigy -atop the censor's lid, as well as areas decorated with an applique of rounded ‘bumps’ and short conical peaks. The effigy and applique areas of the vessel have also been decorated with white pigment. Approximate Size: 15”W x 8”L x 13”H, Bowl Diameter 8” Date: Circa. A.D. 500 - 800. Location: Greater Nicoya, Guanacaste, Pacific coast of Costa Rica. Notes: These censors were used in ritual aspects of shamanic transformation in Greater Nicoya, playing an important role in various types of ceremonies including mortuary, healing, and transformation, among others. Potosí Applique censers are noted as first appearing during the Late Bagaces period and continue into the Sapoá period (Dennett, 2016; Lange et al., 1992). Complete or nearly complete Potosí Applique Vessels from Greater Nicoya are very rare. Provenance: Prominent Private Ethnographic Collection, Estate of Paul S. Hughey, Previously on loan with the Mississippi Museum of Art, Jackson, MS. References: https://www.denverartmuseum.org/en/object/1993.592a-b https://www.denverartmuseum.org/en/object/1993.639a-b.