Costa Rican Stone Mace Head, Nicoya

Alfonso Jimenez, Costa Rica

Lin and Emile Deletaille, Brussels, acquired from the above in 1982

Thence by descent

Brussels, Royal Museums of Art and History, Trésors du Nouveau Monde, September 15 - December 27, 1992

Emile and Lin Deletaille, eds., Trésors du Nouveau Monde, Brussels, 1992, p. 259, fig. 229

Representing a stylized rendition of a tapir’s head, probably of a Baird’s tapir, one of Central America’s largest mammals, here characterized by recessed eyes, flush to the sides of the head, prominent rounded snout projecting forward to create a fleshy and flexible proboscis, and large oval-shaped ears; in a creamy limestone.

Stone mace heads of animals, human heads and abstract forms, were ceremonial weapons attached to wood clubs, used over many centuries in ancient Costa Rica and Peru.