Nasca
Jar with Masked Feline Design
Nasca, 400-499
Physical Qualities
Ceramic, polychrome slip, 6 5/16 x 4 5/16 x 3 1/8 in. (16 x 11 x 8 cm.)
Credit Line
Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Vincent Price
Object Number
1953.34.3
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 1–700 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.
Label applicable for group: 2016.203, 1953.34.3, 2003.193, and 2016.204.
The Baltimore Museum of Art by gift, 1953 - Present; Mr. and Mrs. Vincent L. Price, ?? - 1953
The Baltimore Museum of Art, "Myths of Ancient Peru," October 7, 1969 to November 30, 1969, Circulated to Tennessee Fine Arts Center, Nashville, Tennessee; Loch Haven Art Center, Orlando, Forida; Jacksonville Art Museum, Jacksonville, Florida; Isaac Delgado Museum, New Orleans, Louisiana; Birmingham Art Museum, Birmingham, Alabama; Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Richmond, Virginia; and Mint Museum of Art, Charlotte, North Carolina (all precise exhibition dates are unknown).
Darienne Turner, Baltimore Museum of Art, Ancient Americas Gallery Rotations, December 12, 2021.
Darienne Turner, Baltimore Museum of Art, Ancient Americas Gallery Rotations, December 12, 2021.
Kidder II, Alfred
1954. Six Polychrome Vessels from Nazca. In BMA News 17(3):2-6. Fig. 3