Burial Urn with Female Effigy Figure

Artist:Moskito

Medium: Ceramic, pigment, slip

Geograhical Locations:

• Lower Magdalena River Region, Colombia

Dates:1000–1500 C.E.

Dimensions: A: 16 x 8 9/16 in. (40.6 x 21.7 cm) B: 18 1/2 x 8 1/4 in. (47 x 21 cm)

Collections:

• Arts of the Americas

Accession Number: 49.191.1a-b

Catalogue Description:
Nude female figure with hands resting on knees seated on top of the half-domed lid (b) of a cylindrical funerary urn (a). Cylindrical burial urns with rounded bases and an effigy figure seated on the top, such as this example, are typical of Moskito-style pottery. Several similar urns containing the bones of a secondary burial were found in a mound-covered stone tomb in an ancient cemetery near Ocuña, in the Magdalena Valley of Colombia. Condition: right ear and right breast on the lid figure are reconstructions.

Brooklyn Museum