Spout and bridge vessel in the shape of a woman

Nasca culture (200 BC - AD 600)
From Peru

The vessel represents a standing woman holding an instrument, possibly a spindle wrapped in a cloth. She is wearing facial and body paint with intricate motifs. A repeating motif circles the bottom of the vessel.

Human figures, both male and female, are either painted around Nasca vessels or modelled into a head or full figure. The figures depicted are associated with: subsistence activities, where they hold agricultural products and tools used in farming, fishing or hunting; with war scenes, where they hold weapons such as darts, maces, spears and trophy heads, and with music, where they play instruments such as pan pipes, drums, and rattles.

Effigy vessels representing human figures appeared in the first century AD. There are also vessels modelled into animals (such as birds, dogs or snakes) or edible plants (maize or fruits).

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)