On view
Bridge-spout vessel in the form of a monkey,
200 BCE–100 CE
More Context
The Salinar culture was an important precursor to the better known Moche. Among its most significant contributions to the art of the subsequent cultures were the Salinar people's explorations in and masterful formation of complex, fully modeled ceramic vessels. This example of a seated monkey in red and cream has a limited palette, characteristic of Salinar wares. Although native to the distant Amazon basin, monkeys regularly grace Salinar pottery. Throughout Peruvian prehistory, Amazonian imagery features prominently, betraying a long tradition of trade with that dramatically distinct ecological zone. This particular monkey, with pronounced, almost feline fangs, holds a coastal commodity, a conch shell, and may be more than a naturalistic representation of an exotic creature. The vessel brings together coastal and rainforest imagery, and may depict a mythological character or a particular religious narrative, now lost. The notably tapering spout, attached to the monkey's head by a tubular bridge, is also characteristic of the Salinar ceramic style.
Information
200 BCE–100 CE
South America, Peru, North coast
Mr. and Mrs. Donald H. McClelland, Pasadena, CA [1]. By 1976, Irwin and Marcia Hersey, New York [2]; May 19, 1987, Mr. and Mrs. Irwin Hersey via Sotheby’s, lot 10, sold to the Princeton University Art Museum.
Notes:
[1] According to the accession card.
[2] According to Alan C. Lapiner, Pre-Columbian Art of South America (New York: Harry Abrams, 1976), figs. 239, 240, ill.
- Salvador Toscano, Arte precolombino del Occidente de México (Mexico City: Secretaría de Educación Pública, 1946)., fig. 239
- Andre Emmerich, Animal in Pre-Columbian Art (New York: Andre Emmerich Gallery, 1965)., fig. 13 (illus.)
- Alan Lapiner, Pre-Columbian Art of South America (New York: Harry N. Abrams, 1976)., pp. 478, 479, and 481 (illus.)
- "Acquisitions of the Art Museum 1987", Record of the Art Museum, Princeton University 47, no. 1 (1988): p. 30-54., p. 46
- Harmer Johnson, ed. Guide to the Arts of the Americas (New York: Rizzoli, 1992), p. 37 (illus.)
- Princeton University Art Museum: Handbook of the Collection (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2007), p. 265 (illus.)
- Princeton University Art Museum: Handbook of the Collections (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Art Museum, 2013), p. 317
