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Polychrome Vase - Image 1
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Nasca

Polychrome Vase

600

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Nasca

Polychrome Vase

600

Physical Qualities Earthenware, slip, 5 × 4 3/4 in. (12.7 × 12.1 cm.)
Credit Line Gift of A. Lyndon Bell and Family
Object Number 2016.204
Identifiable by their thin, even walls and shiny surfaces, Nasca ceramics featured up to 13 colors, which was more than appeared on vessels created by any other culture in the Americas in antiquity. The Nasca people, who lived on the southern coast of Peru from around 100 BCE–700 CE, created some of the most vibrant and refined ceramic vessels of the Americas before the arrival of Europeans in the region in the 16th century. From left to right, note the change in Nasca ceramics. The earliest Nasca works include identifiable figures, like the striped frogs and lúcuma fruit on the double-spout bottle at the far left. Ceramics created in the following centuries, like the jar and waisted vessel, became increasingly abstract. Supernatural figures hover in mid-air with rays emitting from their bodies, which then explode into geometric shapes. Late Nasca ceramics, such as the striped polychrome vase, were taller and focused on geometric patterns. The stripes of this vessel mimic designs from Nasca textiles, which were treasured goods in Andean society. Group label for 2016.203, 1953.34.3, 2003.193, and 2016.204.
The Baltimore Museum of Art, by gift, 2016; Kelley Bell, by descent from Carl T. Bell, 2013-2016; Carl T. Bell, by descent from A. Lyndon Bell, 1981-2013; A. Lyndon Bell, by purchase, August 1956-1981
Ancient Americas Gallery Rotations 2021

Ancient Americas Gallery Rotations 2022

Ancient Americas Gallery Rotations 2023

Ancient Americas Rotations 2024
Bennett, Wendell C., “Ancient Arts of the Andes,” New York: The Museum of Modern Art, 1954.

Kroeber, Alfred L., and Donald Collier, “The Archaeology and Pottery of Nazca, Peru: Alfred L. Kroeber’s 1926 Expedition,” edited by Patrick H. Carmichael, Walnut Creek, CA: Sage, 1998.

Rickenbach, Judith, editor, “Nasca: Geheimnisvolle Zeichen im Alten Peru,” Vienna: Museum für Völkerkunde, 1999.

Culture

Nasca

2000–2000

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Explore the Collection Further

Nasca
Double-Spout Bottle Decorated with Striped Frogs and Lúcuma Fruit
2001
Maioliche Artistiche Cantagalli, Margaret Tod Cantagalli, and others
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Alfred Daguet
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1897–1907
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Alfred Daguet
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1897–1907
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300–600
Roberto Lugo
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Bottle
400–600
Eva Zeisel and Schramberg Majolica Factory
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1928
Nasca
Seated figure
100–650
Eva Zeisel
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1925