Greyware Bowl with Incised Monkeys

Art Historical Context

This delicate Greyware Bowl with Incised Monkeys, by an unknown Paracas artist around the 3rd century, exemplifies the refined ceramic traditions of ancient Peru's Paracas culture. Measuring just 2¼ inches high and 3⅞ inches in diameter, this small container from the Metropolitan Museum of Art's Arts Africa, Oceania, and Americas department was a gift from Nathan Cummings in 196. Its smooth grey surface, achieved through a reduction firing process that limits oxygen to create the characteristic color, bears finely incised motifs of playful monkeys—lively figures etched into the clay before fir...