Although similar in form and decoration to the musician (cat. 47), the kneeling warrior carrying darts for a spear thrower is more sophisticated in execution. The decorating technique, of polychrome slip-painting and burnishing, is identical, but this figure is fully modelled, with arms separated from his body.

He wears a turban and a black and white tunic striped in orange and brown. His headdress (redecilla) and black face paint suggest a falcon or hawk, and his arms bear bird tattoos. In one hand he carries darts or arrows, in the other a spear thrower. Although the man is characterised as a warrior, he might be a servant following a higher status soldier or hunter. The ceramic has been dated to the Middle Nazca period, about the third to fourth centuries AD.¹

Christine Dixon

1. José Antonio de Lavalle, Nazca: Colección arte y tesoros del Perú, 2nd edn, Lima: Banco de Crédito del Perú 1989, cat. 112. pp. 146–47.

Although similar in form and decoration to the musician (cat. 47), the kneeling warrior carrying darts for a spear thrower is more sophisticated in execution. The decorating technique, of polychrome slip-painting and burnishing, is identical, but this figure is fully modelled, with arms separated from his body.

He wears a turban and a black and white tunic striped in orange and brown. His headdress (redecilla) and black face paint suggest a falcon or hawk, and his arms bear bird tattoos. In one hand he carries darts or arrows, in the other a spear thrower. Although the man is characterised as a warrior, he might be a servant following a higher status soldier or hunter. The ceramic has been dated to the Middle Nazca period, about the third to fourth centuries AD.¹

Christine Dixon

1. José Antonio de Lavalle, Nazca: Colección arte y tesoros del Perú, 2nd edn, Lima: Banco de Crédito del Perú 1989, cat. 112. pp. 146–47.