Guanacaste is a northwestern province of Costa Rica, facing onto the Pacific Ocean. The archaeological cultures here have been influenced by the country’s position on the fringes of numerous Pre-Columbian empires, and they are perhaps best-known for their decorated ceramic tradition, known as the Galo polychrome style. The mirror- bright burnished surfaces that characterize these pieces are technically unsurpassed by any Pre-Columbian pottery. The yellows, reds, oranges, creams, maroons, and blacks of the polychrome decorations are impressively vivid. Among such sculptures are full human figures with elaborate representations of tattoos or body paint. Such brilliant polychrome traditions represent an important social dimension; as the northern trade network brought jade, slate-backed pyrite mirrors, foreign ceramics, and other luxury goods, the Nicoyans responded by producing their own special purpose pottery. Inspired by northern models, it also incorporated local and southern elements, forming a dazzling hybrid style that was traded around Central America and southern Mesoamerica in the centuries to come.

This is a masterpiece of composition graced with the rich qualities of originality and sensitivity. On a sun-drenched background, there growls a magnificent jaguar, which appears to be suspended in action. The jaguar is highlighted with designs of color and dimension. Our attention is focused on the forearm of the jaguar as it grips the color bands of stripes and pseudo-glyphs that decorate the top of the vessel. The jaguar's head is turned and peers towards an imaginary space or object beyond us. A growl thrusts forth from his wide-open mouth revealing his teeth. During ritual, this globular vessel may have been set before a shaman or nobility who possessed these powerful qualities of the jaguar. We are drawn again and again through this skillful composition, compelled to pleasantly remember the revealing moments of our own powerful nature.