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Vessel with Abstract Heads
From the collection of Cleveland Museum of Art. Free to download, adapt and use — no permission needed.
About this work
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.
Cleveland Museum of Art’s own descriptionCredit lineVessel with Abstract Heads, 100 BCE–700 CE. Peru, South Coast, Nasca. Earthenware with colored slips; overall: 10.4 x 14 cm (4 1/8 x 5 1/2 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, James Albert Ford Memorial Fund, 1946.279
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