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Bottle
Paracas
Early Horizon (late phase)
200–1 BC
Object Place: Peru, South Coast
Medium/Technique
Earthenware with post-fire resin paint
Dimensions
Overall: 15.24 cm (6 in.)
Credit Line
Gift from the Collection of Shirley and Hy Zaret
Accession Number2008.193
CollectionsAmericas
ClassificationsCeramics – Pottery – Earthenware
The form of this vessel is distinctively Paracas, and the scene depicts a mythical or ritual event. The figure is surrounded by fish and an interwoven motif that may represent water. Food from the sea was a staple of this coastal people, and aquatic themes pervade its art.
DescriptionSpout-and-bridge-handled bottle, a distinctive Paracas vessel form, decorated with pictorial elements narrating a mythical or ritual event. It features a human male figure with banded face and wearing an ornate tunic. He is surrounded by flong-finned fish and an interwoven vertical motif that may symbolize water.
ProvenanceSamuel Kirkland Lothrop (b. 1892 - d. 1965), Washington, DC and Cambridge, MA [see note]; March 14, 1998, Lothrop collection and others sale, Skinner Auctioneers (sale 1833), Bolton, MA, lot 27, to Lands Beyond Gallery, New York; sold by Lands Beyond Gallery to Hy and Shirley Zaret, Westport, CT; 2008, gift of Shirley Zaret to the MFA. (Accession Date: June 25, 2008)
NOTE: This vessel may have been acquired as early as the 1920s through the 1940s.
NOTE: This vessel may have been acquired as early as the 1920s through the 1940s.