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HOME :
Pre-Columbian Art :
Costa Rican Musical Instruments : Guanacaste-Nicoya Terracotta Avian Ocarina Whistle
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Guanacaste-Nicoya Terracotta Avian Ocarina Whistle - PF.2977
Origin: Guanacaste, Nicoya, Costa Rica
Circa: 300
BC
to 300
AD
Dimensions:
5.75" (14.6cm) high
x 4.5" (11.4cm) wide
Collection: Pre-Columbian
Medium: Terracotta
$1,800.00
Location: United States
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| Description |
Since the beginning of humanity, music has
always captivated the mind, heart, and soul of
the passionate listener. The Ocarina is a musical
instrument of the New World. Ocarinas come in a
variety of sizes, producing tones ranging from
that of a tenor recorder to that of
a shrill whistle. The mouthpiece and the size of
the resonance chamber are modified to produce
different tones. The largest examples sound like
tenor recorders, somewhat less resonant than a
low-register flute. This Avimorph Ocarina from
the Guanacaste-Nicoya Zone is an exceptional
example of Costa Rican bird-effigy Ocarinas due
to the artist's careful attention to detail. Areas of
fine, dentate rocker stamping, which
distinguishes it from others, have surrounded
the wide-incised lines. Most bird-effigy Ocarinas
are decorated in the early Zoned Bichrome-
Period Style with wide-incised lines, but very few
include the areas of fine, dentate rocker
stamping that this one displays. Although the
bird-effigy Ocarinas are quite stylized, the avian
models may have been of the family
Caprimulgidae, perhaps whippoorwills. This
Avimorph Ocarina has a perforation that allows it
to be hung around the neck. Musicians and
composers alike have been known to devote their
entire lives until the very moment before death
to play and compose music. Old World
composers such as Mozart, Bach, or Beethoven
are recorded in history as geniuses. Who were
the musical geniuses of the New World who
played the Ocarina?
- (PF.2977)
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