Artwork Page for Deity-Head Vessel

Details / Information for Deity-Head Vessel

Deity-Head Vessel

900–400 BCE

Peru, North Coast, Tembladera people, Early Horizon

(900-400 BCE)
Medium
ceramic with pigment applied after firing
Measurements
Overall: 27.6 x 14.9 x 19.2 cm (10 7/8 x 5 7/8 x 7 9/16 in.)
Weight: 900 g (1.98 lbs.)
Credit Line
Severance and Greta Millikin Purchase Fund 2009.82
Public Domain
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Location
Not on view
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Did You Know?

The Tembladera style is one of several very early styles that developed on the northern desert coast of Peru.

Description

This is a stirrup-spouted vessel shaped as the effigy of a deity head with bulging, circular eyes from which hang pendants. A fanged, bandlike mouth is arranged horizontally on top of a projecting chin that is tipped with a three-dimensional, zoomorphic head. A chin strap reaches between two modeled knobs that double as ear ornaments, and the underpart of the chin is ornamented with chevrons. The face is painted red, yellow, and white over the burnished gray-black surface of the ceramic.
An orange-red ceramic vessel depicts a face with massive circular eyes rimmed in white. A dark gray stirrup handle with a central spout arches over the head like a crown. White scroll-like patterns trail down from the eyes toward a snout incised with geometric details and bared teeth. Small ears project from the sides, and a black cap-like shape covers the forehead, connecting to the handle.

Deity-Head Vessel

900–400 BCE

Peru, North Coast, Tembladera people, Early Horizon (900-400 BCE)

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