A Collection of Five Pre-Columbian Terracotta Whistles and Two Small Sculptures of Winged Insects

Culture: Tairona-Culture and Tumaco-La-Tolita Culture/Southern Colombia and northern Ecuador

Period: 300 B.C. - 1300 A.D.

Material: Terracotta, steatite

Dimensions: 2.5 to 4.8 cm high

Price: 1 600 Euro

Ref: 11053

Provenance: Austrian private collection Prof. Josef Mairitsch (1938-1994) with the inventory number M 47 to M 53. Acquired between 1960 and the early 1980s. Thence in the family estate. With a copy of the collection note.

Condition: Throughout intact. In a metal collection box.

Description: A beautiful collection of five figurative terracotta whistles ("Pitos") of the Tairona culture. The small intruments are in form of a seated monkey, an amphibia on a ball, a head of a harpy, as well as shells. All are playable. Furthermore, in the collection are two interesting steatite miniature sculptures of the Tumaco-La-Tolita culture. They depict a winged insect, which stands for transformation and fertility with the form of its wings. See for this interpretation the coessential example in: Armand J. Labbé “Colombia Antes De Colón”, Bogota 1988, p. 20, no. 20.