Vessel with Abstract Heads
Unknown Artist
100 BCE–700 CE
Medium
earthenware with colored slips
Dimensions
10.4 × 14 cm
Classification
Ceramic
Department
Art of the Americas
Museum
Cleveland Museum of Art
Credit
James Albert Ford Memorial Fund
Accession Number
1946.279
About this artwork
Late Nasca supernatural depictions became abstract, detailed, and focused on the head. In this vessel's central register, for instance, a deity is reduced to two mask-like faces, edged by volutes and linked by tongues; the only remains of a body are the hands. The lower register carries a similar image, and the upper register has severed human heads.