Published Seated Statue of a Coquero of the Capulí Culture

Culture: Capulí Culture/Southern Colombia

Period: 850-1500 A.D.

Material: Terracotta

Dimensions: 19.3 cm high

Price: 2 800 Euro

Ref: 11089

Provenance: Austrian private collection Prof Josef Mairitsch (1938-1914) with the inventory number M 60. Acquired between 1960 and the early 1980s. Thence in the family estate. With a copy of the catalogue page and inventory list.

Condition: Intact

Description: Wonderfully preserved, hollow seated statue of a Coquero, a man who chews coca leaves. Depicted is possibly a shaman who attends a funerary ceremony. The man sits with a hunched back on a stool. His flat round head with bulging eyes, a large nose and protruding ears. The mouth with thick lips is slightly open chewing the coca plant, his left cheek bulged. The head has a deep perforation and suggests that the statuette served as a vase. The man rests his arms on the sides on the knees. His thin long legs come out directly from the belly, the feet with short toes rest on a rectangular plinth. Except for a sash bound around his right shoulder and a belt around the belly he is without clothes. Coquero statuettes are typical for the Capulí culture. They were used by shamans to keep special ingredients for cult acts, such as funerary rites. See for the type Armand J. Labbé “Colombia Antes De Colón”, Bogota 1988, p. 195, Lámina XXXVI, XXXVII und XXXVIII. The present statuette is published in: Josef Mairitsch “Columbus am Wörthersee. Amerika vor Columbus.” Catalogue for the special exhibition of the cultural department of the state capital Klagenfurt from 1 June to 31 October 1992, page 95, no. 15.07.