On view
Vessel in the form of a seated man,
330–430 CE
Nasca Slipped Ceramics
Nasca culture inherited a fascination with color from the preceding Paracas culture, but Nasca artists shifted from the earlier practice of post-fire painting on ceramics to the use of slips—suspensions of colored clays and other minerals in water that were applied to pottery before it was fired. Slips are less fragile than paints applied after firing, but low firing temperatures limited the color palette available. No other ancient American culture managed to incorporate such a vibrant and wide-ranging palette for slips as Nasca; some vessels have as many as twelve different colors. As with Paracas, a flat bridge handle and a small tapered spout—both impractical for use—were preferred by Nasca potters over the “stirrupspout” forms so typical of the north coast.
More Context
Didactics
The Nasca culture of the south coast of Peru produced fine portable art, particularly ceramic vessels. Nasca potters were masters of color, applying to their vessels a palette of vibrant slips, more varied than that of any other ancient culture of the Americas. This example presents a male individual with long, straight-cut hair, sideburns, and a mustache and goatee. He wears a conical cap that falls forward, a checkered tunic, and a long, cream cape. As he holds what appear to be short spears, he may be a warrior. In typical Nasca fashion, the subtle deviations from a simple round form in the shape of the vessel body lend a sense of corporeality to the painted figure. The vessel spout is connected to the figure's projecting head by a slab bridge, a form related to the stirrup-spout.
Information
330–430 CE
South America, Peru, South coast
- "Acquisitions of the Art Museum 1990," Record of the Art Museum, Princeton University 50, no. 1 (1991): p. 16-69., pp. 37–38 (illus.)
- Princeton University Art Museum: Handbook of the Collection (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2007), p. 189 (illus.)
- Princeton University Art Museum: Handbook of the Collections (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Art Museum, 2013), p. 195
