A Guanacaste-Nicoya Large Two-Part Incensario
c. 600 - 1100 AD

An impressive and highly decorative two-part incense burner from the Guanacaste-Nicoya zone of Costa Rica, Period V-VI. The bell-shaped lid is decorated with bands painted in red and black, and covered with small nodes. A well-detailed fat lizard is perched above, its snout pointing upward, while its tail extends downward for the length of the lid. The concave base served as the container for burning copal and features a small jaguar head modeled in relief, four red painted legs on the squared body, and incised cross emblems.

Height: 23 ¾ inches