Costa Rican Stone Warrior with Trophy Head

Galerie Art des Amériques, Paris

Private Collection, Belgium, acquired from the above 1970

Thence by descent

Standing rigidly on flat feet with an ax held with a striated grip laid against his right shoulder and a trophy- head hanging from a rope going over the left shoulder; in volcanic stone.

A tradition of figural sculpture that emphasized militarism and warriors is characteristic of the later period of the Central Highlands-Atlantic Watershed region.

For similar iconography, see Elizabeth P. Benson, ed., Between Continents / Between Seas: Pre-Columbian Art of Costa Rica, New York, 1981, pl. pl. 206.