Images(2)

Human head effigy vase

AD 250-400

Object PlacePeru

Medium/TechniqueEarthenware: red, orange, black, and white on cream slip paint

Dimensions19.3 x 13.8 cm (7 5/8 x 5 7/16 in.)

Credit LineAnonymous gift

Accession number2001.149

On View

On view

ClassificationsCeramics

Collections

Americas

Description

This vase depicts a man with mustache, face painting around the eyes, and a headdress of wrapped cords and feathers. It may represent a trophy head or an important Nasca personage.

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.