This broad-shouldered figure belongs to a tradition of figurative whistles or ocarinas made by artists from what we now know as the Tairona culture. Thermoluminescence testing confirmed that the piece was last fired between 1200 and 1500. The burnished dark brown surface and very fine incising with white pigment are all typical, and while most of these ocarinas are perfectly symmetrical, sometimes that convention is broken in order to depict a scene (see also M.2007.146.447). Here, the left hand holds a baby, the right a small item we cannot identify. A round element protrudes from the mouth of the main figure, and possibly from the infant as well, but it is not known what this represents. The large figure wears a two-layer necklace, skirt, headband, and a structure on the oversized shoulders that is topped by two serpent heads. The overall effect is supernatural or ritualistic, as opposed to maternal or paternal. Indeed, the same billowing body shape can be seen on another ocarina, where the head is explicitly that of an animal (M.2007.146.10).
The pattern of the skirt as well as the stripes on the billowing sleeves or bulging arms continue around the back, but the rest of the back is plain burnished. There is a triple whistling mechanism with three separate mouthpieces at the top of the headdress facing three separate blades, making it possible to produce separate notes or concurrent discordant sounds. This rather complex mechanism is found on other Tairona ocarinas (M.2007.146.466 and .469). The asymmetrical holes visible on the front of the body here are not practical as finger holes, and thus do not seem to be part of the functionality of this item as a musical instrument.
Over a number of years of close collaboration between LACMA and the Arhuaco community (see Burtenshaw et al. 2022), we learned that deciphering the narrative encoded in ancestral objects and motifs is not the only way to expand our understanding of them. As well as their iconography or function, their essence matters. According to Arhuaco elders, pieces like this whistle were created as reciprocal gifts to the earth—physically offered or through their sound—to maintain balance in the network of life; in other words, to help manage the universe. They contain the essence of living creatures and ancestral beings, can be used to communicate with them, and thus create bridges between different cultures, us and them, past and present.
Julia Burtenshaw
2025
Selected Bibliography
Burtenshaw, Julia, Diana Magaloni, Maria Alicia Uribe, and Hector Garcia Botero, eds. The Portable Universe/El Universo en tus Manos: Thought and Splendor of Indigenous Colombia. LACMA/DelMonico Prestel, 2022.
Unpacking the Universe: The Making of an Exhibition, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, 2022, https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLJy-HLfC3xxCue9_kM1GRNcnPEaNvi_aW.