Costa Rican Stone Flying Panel Metate, Late Period IV, circa AD 1 - 500

Acquired by 1971 (listed as no. 105 in the September 10, 1973 appraisal of the collection)

The masterfully carved openwork metates from the Central Highland/Atlantic Watershed region transform large blocks of volcanic stone into sculptural, dynamic forms. The iconography often combines human and animal or avian creatures as the supports for the ceremonial activity that would have occurred atop the platform. On this metate, each tripod leg is a large beaked bird with long wings by the side and a head with deep ring eyes. The central figure is looking to his right and holding a pillar. The rectangular platform is serrated along the perimeter. 

See Suzanne Abel-Vidor et al., Between Continents/Between Seas: Precolumbian Art of Costa Rica, New York, 1981, p. 119, cat. nos. 144-147 for the general type.