On view
Bridge-spout vessel with two winged figures,
800–900
More Context
Didactics
Made by hand (probably coiled) from a reddish, ferrous clay, with notably thin walls (~4-5 mm.), this vessel is formed in one of several standardized shapes for Wari ritual pottery; the vessel body is comprised of two hemispherical sections, from which a pair of tapering spouts emerge, to be joined by a flat bridge. Although the vessel form could minimize evaporation, the small spouts ultimately seem impractical, and probably mark the vessel as a burial offering not actually intended to hold a liquid. The lower half of the vessel is slipped a consistent dark brown, while the upper half is complexly polychromed with six colors. The composition, which repeats on each side of the vessel, features a hybrid figure with avian wings, feline head and tail, and generally humanoid proportions. Each figure holds a staff. One of several well-known anthropomorphized animals common in Wari art, this winged feline is traditionally considered an 'attendant' of a primary deity (not pictured on this vessel). The winged felines are surrounded by small two-toned ovoids, which may represent beans and associate the vessel with agricultural ceremony. The bridge presents a series of three feline heads, identical in design but of variable color. The use of complex polychromy, as well as the basic bridge-spout design, find their origins in the Early Intermediate Period ceramics of the south-coast Nasca, yet take on distinctly geometric stylization in Wari times. It is thought such imagery, which generally includes dominant horizontal and vertical form lines, derives from Wari textile design, especially brocading. It is also possible that bridge-spout vessel such as this were likened to the human body: the imagery painted on the upper half could be understood to replicate a woven tunic; the roughly rectangular motifs beneath the spouts would mark the open sides of the tunic; and the small section of white cross-hatching beneath the bridge could indicate the opening for the head
Information
800–900
South America, Peru, Central coast
Before 1969, John L. (1926-2016) and Sue (1928-2005) Tishman, New York (P8) [1]; 2007, John and Sue Tishman sold to private collector, New York [2]; November 27, 2020, private collection, New York, sold to Princeton University Art Museum.
Notes:
[1] The Tishmans assigned numbers to works in their collection, whereby lower-numbered objects were acquired prior to higher-numbered objects. The numbers changed over time as works were donated or sold from the collection. A series of appraisals of the collection produced by Robert Sonin, copies of which are in the curatorial file and date as early as 1970, list this object as P8. Another work on the list, numbered P31 and P35 in different versions, was exhibited and published in 1969, providing a terminus ante quem by which the proposed object was in the Tishman collection.
[2] As per letter from John L Tishman to private collection. Copy in curatorial file.
