Double-spouted Vessel

750–1 BC

Double-spouted Vessel, 750–1 BC. Andes, south coast, Paracas people. Ceramic, resin-based paint; overall: 19.7 x 20.7 cm (7 3/4 x 8 1/8 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Severance and Greta Millikin Purchase Fund 2017.57 The Paracas style, the earliest of Peru’s south coast, focuses on geometric abstraction and polychromy, the latter achieved in ceramics with resin-based paints applied after the vessel was fired. This example is embellished with two monkey- or feline-like creatures whose curvilinearity indicates the vessel was made in the late stages of the Paracas sequence. A face with upturned eyes on one spout gives this vessel a specific orientation.