Double spout and bridge vessel with pelican and
fish
Nasca culture (200 BC - AD
600)
From Peru
The body of the vessel is painted with a
pelican holding a fish in its beak. Several species of birds, both
marine and terrestrial, are represented on Nasca ceramics; although
the depictions are quite naturalistic, it is not always easy to
determine their
species.
Birds played an
important role for Nasca people and bird feathers were used as
ornaments for high ranking people and textiles. A sixteenth-century
chronicle written by a Spanish friar describes islands off the
south coast where large quantities of bird droppings were collected
and used as
fertilizer.
Certain birds
are still revered in the Andean region today. The people of the
modern town of Nasca believe that the pelican and other birds, such
as the condor and the heron, are manifestations of the mountain
gods. To catch sight of one of these birds means that rain will
fall in the mountains. Hummingbirds are considered to be the
intermediaries of the mountain gods, or even a manifestation of
them.
A.F. Aveni, Nasca: Eighth Wonder of the Wo (London, The British Museum Press, 2000)
R. Stone-Miller, Art of the Andes: from Chavín (London: Thames & Hudson, 1995)
L.G. Lumbreras, The peoples and cultures of an (Washington, Smithsonian Institution Press, 1976)
J. Reinhard, 'Interpreting the Nazca Lines' in The ancient Americas: art from (The Art Institute of Chicago, 1992), pp. 291-302
H. Silverman, Cahuachi in the ancient Nasca (University of Iowa Press, 1993)