Stirrup-spout vessel in form of a bowl with food,

500–200 BCE

Chavín is the first Andean art style to have been used with relative consistency over an extensive geographic range. This fine ceramic vessel, blackened through oxygen reduction during the firing process, is typical of a particular substyle of Chavín ceramics known as Cupisnique, named after the north coast site at the center of the substyle's distribution. The proportionately thick tubes comprising the stirrup-spout, the circular form of the stirrup, and the flanged spout are all characteristic of these vessels. The technically challenging stirrup-spout form, first developed in Chavín times and pervasive in Andean material culture thereafter, may have been preferred because it reduced evaporation, limited spilling, and allowed for smooth pouring, since air can pass through one chamber as liquid exits the other. Such vessels likely held chicha, an intoxicating beverage made from maize. The body of the vessel depicts a bowl overflowing with a frothy substance peppered with small, raisin-shaped forms, perhaps representing chicha or food.