Chancay Ceramic Effigy Vessel

Over five centuries old, and its stripes remain in perfect order.

This effigy vessel is Chancay, from Peru, made between 1000 and 1470 CE of terra cotta and pigment. Chancay potters produced large painted jars in great numbers, many of them placed in graves, and they are thought to have held food and drink. The egg-shaped body is painted black on cream, with fine vertical lines on one side and zigzags on the other. A small modeled face sits on a plain central band, beneath a flared neck with crossed lines and two loop handles. The lower third is black. Eighteen inches high.

The face is small. The jar does not seem to mind.