Container Depicting Warriors, Rulers, and Winged Beings with Trophy Heads

180 B.C./A.D. 500

Nazca
South coast, Peru

This monumental ceramic ceremonial drum or a storage container—its long crack was repaired in antiquity—displays scenes depicting military triumph. On the upper tier, composite supernatural creatures combine forms derived from predatory birds, felines, and fish, thereby manifesting the powers of the sky, earth, and sea. These otherworldly beings feast on human captives and trophy heads, emphasizing that the natural world is not only nurturing, but also dangerous. Nazca warriors also hold weapons and trophy heads, and wear similar masks and headdresses to those worn by the composite figures, signifying that the ultimate source of their military prowess is derived from the supernatural realm. A group of elaborately attired individuals witness the sacrifices of the prisoners captured in battle. Military expeditions and ceremonies were timed to the seasonal rhythms of the environment in order to stimulate the powers of the natural world upon which human societies depended.
— Permanent collection descriptive text

Status: On View, Gallery 136
Department: Arts of the Americas

Culture: Nasca
Title: Container Depicting Warriors, Rulers, and Winged Beings with Trophy Heads
Place: Peru (Object made in)
Date Dates are not always precisely known, but the Art Institute strives to present this information as consistently and legibly as possible. Dates may be represented as a range that spans decades, centuries, dynasties, or periods and may include qualifiers such as c. (circa) or BCE.: 180 BCE–500 CE
Medium: Ceramic and pigment
Dimensions: 127 × 114.3 × 114.3 cm (50 × 45 × 45 in.)
Credit Line: Gift of Edward and Betty Harris
Reference Number: 2004.1154
IIIF Manifest The International Image Interoperability Framework (IIIF) represents a set of open standards that enables rich access to digital media from libraries, archives, museums, and other cultural institutions around the world. Learn more.: https://api.artic.edu/api/v1/artworks/183073/manifest.json

Richard Townsend with Elizabeth Pope, Indian Art of the Americas at the Art Institute of Chicago (Chicago: Art Institute of Chicago with Yale University Press, 2016), 298-299, cat. 246 (ill.).

Unknown private collector, Europe, by 1926 [correspondence from M. Brenner in curatorial file]; sold to John Wise, N.Y., 1926 [correspondence from M. Brenner in curatorial file]; sold to M. Brenner, Zurich, Switzerland, 1947 [consigned to Michael Bernstein, Rare Finds, Tucson, AZ, April 3, 1995]; sold to Edward and Betty Harris, Chicago, October 1995; given to the Art Institute, 2004.

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