Featured Help ID Tribal Rattle/Whistle ?

Found at a garage sale in Portland,OR on a table w/ repro & fantasy pre-Columbian ceramics. It caught my eye because of perceived (???) age-of course 99.9999% of theses artifacts are phony.
Polychrome surface seems to have age wear,cracking shows signs of glue,2 holes on base-with a large pea-size free rolling ball inside.Degradation of base glaze clay poss long-term ground contact ?
Shaken it makes a rattling sound-no sound when I blow on either of the large holes or the mouth slit.
Size- 7 1/2" lngth X 4 3/4" wdth X 3 1/4" ht.
Any opinions or info welcome-thanks !
PS- Will be hitting garage sales for nxt 3-5 hrs, sorry if incommunicado.

 

It looks promising. Probably from Costa Rica. Here is a similar one in the Met -


https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/502741

The deterioration on the bottom looks similar to conditions I have seen on genuinely old pieces - more than simple shelf wear.

 

Another example that shows the typical colors of Costa Rican pieces -
https://harn.emuseum.com/objects/6295/bat-effigy-whistle-ocarina

 

Thanks @2manybooks- ditto,Costa Rica was the only country of origin I could find for turtle rattles/ocarinas that didn't have much in the way of feet.
I never buy these pieces, but this one was suspiciously authentic-looking.
PS- Will shoot some pics to museums & auction houses. Note, even if authentic-not a priceless item, but just finding the real thing'd be a kick !

 

Good find Bosko--- I think it looks promising too.

 

Promising and charming. Always love that colour combination.

 

Good fer yew, Bosko!

 

I don't see how that's a whistle..?

 

Some of them are just rattles.

 

wouldn't the stones fall out of this one?

 

Maybe the crack in the shell prevents successful whistling by letting air escape instead of going all the way through?

It's a wonderfully well observed turtle face.

 

Thanks for all the observations-quite a unique find for me ! Can't recall ever finding a possible piece of classical excavated (burial ?) archaeology at a garage sale before-never anything this obvious at least.
@2manybooks -Yep, think it's a rattle (not whistle)
@komokwa - Will post an illuminated pic of the interior,and you'll see how big the ball is (lks more like a fired ball of clay than a stone).The ball was placed inside the the body before it was sealed, painted and finally fired.
@Bronwen -ditto, love the face.
Here's a pic I just shot of the interior w/ the ball (that 'rattles' round).

 

Wot a clevious fellow!

 

Some modern whistles have a ball inside, & this looks like it has the hole you can put your thumb over to change the pitch. Maybe it also served as a rattle , but I think whistle too. Maybe a pre-Columbian one-man band.

 

Doesn't it have two holes in the belly, one near the head and one near the tail?

 

Yep AJ- 2 holes,a head and tail one.
"Pre-Columbian Costa Rican ceramic whistles & rattles (ca. 800–1525 A.D.) frm regions like Línea Vieja & the Diquís) are ancient clay instruments shaped like animals or humans. They served sacred ceremonial duties, shamanic rituals, or status expression, containing small loose clay pellets to rattle alongside air ducts to whistle." -The Met Museum.
Seems some were combo instruments (whistle & rattle), and some may have been single-purpose (whistle OR rattle) I think ?
The Artisans appear to have had a fair amount of freedom in fashioning these little pieces.

 

The smaller hole closer to the head is the one I conjecture you could close with your thumb to raise the pitch.

Now bosko you just have to work on your embouchure.

 

On the business end of the tortoise.

 

I wanna watch!

 

I dug into this one quite a bit because the rattle inside caught my attention.

I would not call this piece authentically pre-Columbian from photos alone, especially considering where it was found, but the form itself does have legitimate ancient Costa Rican parallels.

Harvard's Peabody Museum documents Greater Nicoya polychrome effigy vessels with hollow rattle chambers and loose pellets, including examples dated roughly 800–1550 CE. One Pataky Polychrome effigy vessel from Nicoya has three hollow rattle supports with slit openings, and another Nicoya vessel has molded animal-effigy rattle elements.

Harvard Peabody:
https://collections.peabody.harvard.edu/objects/355438/pataky-polychrome-effigy-tripod-vessel

https://collections.peabody.harvard.edu/objects/details/256288

The British Museum also has a Nicoya Polychrome animal-effigy vessel from Guanacaste, Costa Rica, dated 1000–1550 CE, painted red and black over a light-colored slip:

https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/E_Am1965-04-2

Most interestingly, Arte Primitivo/Artemis recently catalogued both a Nicoya Polychrome Turtle Effigy Jar dated about 800–1350 CE and a separate Costa Rican terracotta turtle-effigy rattle containing loose clay pellets:

https://auctions.artemisgallery.com...me-turtle-effigy-jar-zoomorphic-ba_9650801130

So the turtle/zoomorphic shape, red-black-cream decoration and actual rattle construction are all features with genuine Costa Rican/Greater Nicoya precedents.

What I can't determine from the photographs is whether this particular piece is ancient or a later reproduction made in that tradition. Surface wear, cracking and deposits alone aren't enough to establish age. Given that it was found among reproduction pieces, I'd be cautious, but I definitely wouldn't dismiss it simply because it rattles. That feature is historically legitimate and makes it worth a closer look by someone experienced with Greater Nicoya ceramics.