Tairona Okarina in Form of a Standing Shaman with a Jaguar Mask

Culture: Tairona/Northern Colombia

Period: 1000-1550 A.D.

Material: Terracotta

Dimensions: 14.8 cm high

Price: 1 800 Euro

Ref: 11058

Provenance: Austrian private collection Prof. Josef Mairitsch (1938-1994) with the inventory number M 157. Acquired between 1960 and the early 1980s. Thence in the family estate. With copy of the collection note.

Condition: Intact and today still playable.

Description: Rare figurative terracotta vessel flute of the Tairona culture in form of a standing man with a jaguar mask. The man wears scaly trousers and a piece on the back made of snake leather. He carries a bag (“mochila”) over his left shoulder. His left arm is unnaturally turned on the back and rests on the backbone. The right arm hangs on the side down, the hand rests on the groin. A third hand grows out of his belt and rests under his right breast. He wears a lot of jewellery, amongst them a broad, ribbed necklace, a pointy penis quiver and bracelets. His chest is at the same time the holes of the okarina, between them a nose-shaped rib, which lends the impression of an owl face. The mouthpiece to form the tones is on the calotte. A fitting headdress, reminiscent of a pageboy's hairdo, frames the sculpturally protruding predator face. A rare, large okarina that can still be played today. Mounted.