GUANACASTE PENDANT - Lot 186

Lot n° 186
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Estimation :
4000 - 5000 EUR
GUANACASTE PENDANT - Lot 186
GUANACASTE PENDANT Representing a stylized shaman in translucent emerald green jade Atlantic Versaut culture Period IV, ca. AD 1-500, Costa Rica Height: 15.7 cm Width: 4.4 cm Thickness: 1 cm Provenance: galerie 1492, Paris A certificate of authenticity will be given to the purchaser. Note: The work is primarily a pendant. It is carved and engraved. The upper half depicts an anthropomorphic figure. The figure represented is a shaman in transformation. The hands are placed on the belly. The overlapping fingers are aligned horizontally. The mouth is open, marked at the ends by circles. Just below the mouth is a representation of what appears to be a stylized human head. Fine engravings ending in scrolls run across the face and the top of the face. At the top are two heads of the same animal, back to back. There are no legs, as the pendant ends in a rounded concave. This type of pendant was probably worn by shamans or caciques. They represent the shaman in transformation, often into a jaguar. It has also been hypothesized that they may represent the shaman during a session of drug absorption and vomiting. These sessions, which could last several days, were preceded by ritual fasting and were followed by repeated vomiting that enabled the shaman to be purified, and thus allow access to different levels of consciousness. This piece is extremely fine and meticulous. Its emerald-green jade is of great beauty and translucency.
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