Central Caribbean. Trophy Head, 500–1000. Ceramic, pigments, 6 5/16 x 7 1/2 in. (16 x 19.1 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Alfred W. Jenkins Fund, 34.2231. Creative Commons-BY (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, CUR.34.2231_front.jpg)
Central Caribbean. Trophy Head, 500–1000. Ceramic, pigments, 6 5/16 x 7 1/2 in. (16 x 19.1 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Alfred W. Jenkins Fund, 34.2231. Creative Commons-BY (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, CUR.34.2231.jpg)
Central Caribbean. Trophy Head, 500–1000. Ceramic, pigments, 6 5/16 x 7 1/2 in. (16 x 19.1 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Alfred W. Jenkins Fund, 34.2231. Creative Commons-BY (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, CUR.34.2231_side.jpg)
Central Caribbean. Trophy Head, 500–1000. Ceramic, pigments, 6 5/16 x 7 1/2 in. (16 x 19.1 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Alfred W. Jenkins Fund, 34.2231. Creative Commons-BY (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, CUR.34.2231_back.jpg)
Trophy Head
Arts of the Americas
Abundant in pre-Columbian Costa Rican art and iconography, disembodied human heads are often depicted as trophies held in the hands of human figures or simply as sculptures and head-shaped vessels. The large hole at the bottom of this ceramic head refers to decapitation. Scholars suggest that while trophy heads had a military context as spoils of war, their prominence also indicates a ritual dimension, an interpretation that is supported by a nineteenth-century scientist’s account of the taking of heads by Bribri and Teribe tribes. Among both groups, who are descendants of Costa Rica’s ancient people, high priests organized war parties to decapitate enemies and thereby eliminate sources of witchcraft and sorcery.
Las cabezas humanas separadas del cuerpo abundan en el arte e iconografía precolombina de Costa Rica, y con frecuencia se representan como trofeos en las manos de figuras humanas o simplemente como esculturas y vasijas en forma de cabezas. El gran agujero en la base de esta pieza cerámica alude a la decapitación. Académicos sugieren que si bien las cabezas trofeo tenían una connotación militar como botín de guerra, su importancia sugiere también una dimensión ritual, interpretación que se sostiene por el reporte hecho por un científico en el siglo diecinueve, de la toma de cabezas por las tribus Bribi y Teribe. En ambos grupos, los cuales descienden de los antiguos habitantes de Costa Rica, los sumos sacerdotes organizaban partidas de guerra para decapitar enemigos y así eliminar fuentes de brujería y hechicería.
Las cabezas humanas separadas del cuerpo abundan en el arte e iconografía precolombina de Costa Rica, y con frecuencia se representan como trofeos en las manos de figuras humanas o simplemente como esculturas y vasijas en forma de cabezas. El gran agujero en la base de esta pieza cerámica alude a la decapitación. Académicos sugieren que si bien las cabezas trofeo tenían una connotación militar como botín de guerra, su importancia sugiere también una dimensión ritual, interpretación que se sostiene por el reporte hecho por un científico en el siglo diecinueve, de la toma de cabezas por las tribus Bribi y Teribe. En ambos grupos, los cuales descienden de los antiguos habitantes de Costa Rica, los sumos sacerdotes organizaban partidas de guerra para decapitar enemigos y así eliminar fuentes de brujería y hechicería.
CULTURE
Central Caribbean
MEDIUM
Ceramic, pigments
DATES
500–1000
DIMENSIONS
6 5/16 x 7 1/2 in. (16 x 19.1 cm) (show scale)
COLLECTIONS
Arts of the Americas
ACCESSION NUMBER
34.2231
CREDIT LINE
Alfred W. Jenkins Fund
CATALOGUE DESCRIPTION
Hollow, redware, thick-walled trophy head with modeled ears, eyes, nose, mouth and chin. The ears are perforated at the lobes; the nose has two holes for the nostrils, and the open mouth has five remaining teeth. At the top of the head is a modeled cap decorated with raised dots in the center and around the perimeter, with incised lines between the two.
Condition: good; several teeth are missing and there are small chips and abrasions around the eyes, nose, cheeks, and mouth.
EXHIBITIONS
MUSEUM LOCATION
This item is not on view
CAPTION
Central Caribbean. Trophy Head, 500–1000. Ceramic, pigments, 6 5/16 x 7 1/2 in. (16 x 19.1 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Alfred W. Jenkins Fund, 34.2231. Creative Commons-BY (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, CUR.34.2231_front.jpg)
IMAGE
front, CUR.34.2231_front.jpg. Brooklyn Museum photograph, 2011
"CUR" at the beginning of an image file name means that the image was created by a curatorial staff member. These study images may be digital point-and-shoot photographs, when we don\'t yet have high-quality studio photography, or they may be scans of older negatives, slides, or photographic prints, providing historical documentation of the object.
RIGHTS STATEMENT
Creative Commons-BY
You may download and use Brooklyn Museum images of this three-dimensional work in accordance with a Creative Commons license. Fair use, as understood under the United States Copyright Act, may also apply.
Please include caption information from this page and credit the Brooklyn Museum. If you need a high resolution file, please fill out our online application form (charges apply).
For further information about copyright, we recommend resources at the United States Library of Congress, Cornell University, Copyright and Cultural Institutions: Guidelines for U.S. Libraries, Archives, and Museums, and Copyright Watch.
For more information about the Museum's rights project, including how rights types are assigned, please see our blog posts on copyright.
If you have any information regarding this work and rights to it, please contact copyright@brooklynmuseum.org.
RECORD COMPLETENESS
Not every record you will find here is complete. More information is available for some works than for others, and some entries have been updated more recently. Records are frequently reviewed and revised, and we welcome any additional information you might have.
