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Female effigy jar

Female effigy jar

100 BC-AD 1
Object PlacePeru
Medium/TechniqueEarthenware: red, ochre, black and white post-fire resin paint
Dimensions40 x 28 cm (15 3/4 x 11 in.)
Credit LineGift of Landon T. Clay
Accession number2004.2205
On View
On view
ClassificationsCeramics
Collections
Description
This vessel recalls Paracas mummy bundles, in which the flexed body of the deceased was wrapped in plain and embroidered textiles to create a large, ovoid form. This figure's upturned head and open mouth suggest a ritual petition or outcry, her emotion heightened by the tear-shaped rectangles below her eyes. Many-headed serpents embellish her mantle, their curvilinear forms resembling the embroidered images on Paracas textiles.
ProvenanceAbout 1968, sold by a private collector, New York, to Landon T. Clay, New Hampshire [see note]; 2004, year-end gift of Landon T. Clay to the MFA. (Accession Date: February 23, 2005)

NOTE: The vessel was first lent to the MFA on July 31, 1974. At the time of the gift, the donor stated that he bought it from a Peruvian medical student in New York in 1968.