Nazca Vessel in the Form of a Squatting Figure - PF.1329, Origin: South Coast of Peru, Circa: 1 AD to 500 AD, Dimensions: 6.5" (16.5cm) high, Catalogue: V7, Collection: Pre-Columbian, Style: Nazca, Medium: Terracotta. With bold lines and rich colors, Nazca craftsmen recreated the world around them in pottery. This fascinating vessel depicts a squatting man who holds a fox or wolf on his back with a cord. How are we to interpret this scene? Is he some fur trapper who has brought a pelt to market? A mountebank daredevil who lifts wild beasts to amaze the crowd? Or is he a figure from myth, a Peruvian Hercules who wrestles with the supernatural forces of nature? As we turn the vessel round and round, staring first at the human face and then at the animal, a thousand possibilities occur to us. The answer has faded into time, leaving only this powerful image to intrigue us.

Antiquities
Ancient South America