Images(2)

Double-spouted bottle

A.D. 200–350

Object PlacePeru

Medium/TechniquePolychrome earthenware: brown, red, orange, yellow, gray, and black on cream slip paint

Dimensions22.5 cm (8 7/8 in.)

Credit LineAnonymous gift

Accession number2001.147

On View

Not on view

ClassificationsCeramics

Collections

Americas

Description

This typical Nasca vessel is decorated with the image of the Anthropomorphic Mythical Being, who symbolized the spirits residing in nature. The figure grasps a "jíquima" root, an important food crop, and a staff-like weapon and a trophy head. He wears a feline headband and mask around his mouth; similar adornments of sheet gold have been found in Nasca burials.

ProvenanceBetween the early 1940s and late 1950s, probably acquired in Peru by Bernhard Kummel (b. 1919 - d. 1980), Cambridge, MA [see note]; late 1950s, sold by Bernhard Kummel to an anonymous collection; 2001, anonymous gift to the MFA. (Accession Date: March 21, 2001)

NOTE: The Boston Globe reported ("South America's Rainy Jungle Less Dangerous than Harvard Square," November 17, 1957) on the time Dr. Kummel, a Harvard professor of geology, spent in Peru. He and his wife are pictured holding Peruvian vessels from their collection.