Masked Figurine Holding a Drum, Possibly an Ocarina (Whistle)
Tairona
c. 1300
Medium
Ceramic and pigment
Dimensions
H.: 12.7 cm (5 in.)
Classification
sculpture
Department
Arts of the Americas
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Accession Number
126273
Rights
Public Domain
About this artwork
To this day in Tairona communities, masked individuals dance, personifying the deified forces and phenomena of nature. This act associates the annual round of social and economic activities with the natural world’s cycle of death, fertility, and renewal.