Pre-Columbian, Central America, Costa Rica, ca. 800 to 1200 CE; Colombia, Tairona, ca. 1000 to 1500 CE. A lovely gathering of 3 hand-built pottery whistles. First is a Costa Rican whistle depicting a highly abstract avian creature with tab-shaped wings, a slender tail that doubles as the mouthpiece, and a protruding head with a nubbin beak. Second is a spherical Tairona whistle depicting a kneeling figure with a skyward visage and stippled decorations across the arms and tail. The largest whistle is a Tairona abstract zoomorph with a conical body and bulging eyes; 4 tones holes on top suggest it was an ocarina at one time. Size of largest (Tairona): 3.18" L x 1.65" W (8.1 cm x 4.2 cm)

Provenance: private Lumberton, Texas, USA collection, acquired before 2010

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#169633

Largest whistle has repair to bottom of mouthpiece, and bird whistle has losses to tip of mouthpiece and side of face; kneeling whistle figure has small chips around rim but is intact and very good. Kneeling whistle makes a high-pitched sound when air is blown across the rim; the largest whistle creates a sound when all 4 tone holes atop the back are covered; the avian whistle makes no sound.