Poporo (Lime container) 300 – 700 Early Quimbaya This object is a poporo, or a container for powdered lime. It is hollow and made of cast metal. There is an opening at the top of the poporo, with a ridge around the opening’s circumference. Moving away from the top, the poporo widens, and the shape of its upper region is conical. At the widest point of this region, there is a cast filigree band that wraps around the circumference. The general outline of the object curves inward before branching outward to form the majority of the poporo, which is relatively rectangular. Its long sides, h

Poporo (Lime container) 300 – 700 Early Quimbaya This object is a poporo, or a container for powdered lime. It is hollow and made of cast metal. There is an opening at the top of the poporo, with a ridge around the opening’s circumference. Moving away from the top, the poporo widens, and the shape of its upper region is conical. At the widest point of this region, there is a cast filigree band that wraps around the circumference. The general outline of the object curves inward before branching outward to form the majority of the poporo, which is relatively rectangular. Its long sides, however, are curved. On the obverse, the center of this main region shows a standing female figure. This figure is framed at top and on the sides by cast filigree bands of approximately the same thickness as that of the filigree band in the upper region. On the reverse, the only designs are three cast filigree bands in the same locations as they appear on the obverse. This is distinct from another poporo, Metropolitan Museum of Art , that shows figures on the obverse and reverse. In the case of the present example, the long cast filigree bands connect with each other as they extend over the main region of the poporo. The figure on the obverse is consistent with depictions of people by artists in the Quimbaya region (see, for example, ), specifically in the Early Quimbaya tradition (300 – 700). It also shares features with the work of artists in the Central American Isthmus in certain cases (see ): with their eyes closed or partially closed, people wear bands around the top of the head, the neck, wrists, waist, knees, and ankles. The figure may be female given that the artists have depicted the chest as pronounced. Women are often portrayed on Quimbaya metalwork (see Uribe 2005), and their presence is manifested in the entire object (see below). The bands on the head and neck are cast filigree. Like those in other locations on the p

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