The ceramic vessel is decorated with a face sculpted in high relief, based on the imagery of the Gateway of the Sun at Tiahuanaco. Its form is derived from the Tiahuanaco kero or goblet, which was later adopted by the Incas. It ‘mingles highland and local south-coast motifs’,¹ from bands of plant and fret designs, a face decorated with knives, to a tunic made of rectangles with circles. Strong colour harmonies unite the slip painting, with the black base enlivened with yellow, orange, red-brown and cream hues. The plain inside slip repeats the red-brown used for the face.

The Staff God and his acolytes were known for their square faces, round eyes and tears made of ornaments. Here three knives with cat heads embellish the deity’s cheeks and nose. His teeth are transformed into feline fangs, and small plants surmount each eye. The motif is echoed around the rim, and follows the ‘Andean convention of showing plants with their roots’.² The complex relationship between the rival Huari and Tiahuanaco cultures is indicated by modern writers attributing the vessel to each: ‘Coastal Tiahuanaco style. From Cahuachi, Rio Grande de Nazca’,³ or Wari, found at Pacheco⁴ in the Nazca Valley. This results from the recent disentangling of the two cultures, and evidence of the Huari adoption of the Staff God, known from surviving Tiahuanaco stone sculpture.

Such a large vessel, one of a pair, probably had a ceremonial rather than a simple utilitarian purpose:

The Wari made offerings to their gods by breaking objects [such as this]. The gesture of sacrificing a work of art strongly suggests that the Wari considered them to be of considerable value. Thus, artists would make ephemeral pieces whose beauty would only survive temporarily in the memory of those taking part in the ceremony but eternally in the divine realm.⁵

Christine Dixon

1. Elizabeth P. Benson and William J. Conklin in Museums of the Andes, New York: Newsweek1981, p. 84.

2. Benson and Conklin, p. 85.

3. S. K. Lothrop, Treasures of Ancient America: Pre-Columbian art from Mexico to Peru, Geneva: Skira and New York: Rizzoli 1979, p. 209.

4. Mary Glowacki, ‘Shattered ceramics and offerings’, in Susan E. Bergh et al., Wari: Lords of the ancient Andes, New York: Cleveland Museum of Art and Thames and Hudson 2012, p. 147.

5. Luis Guillermo Lumbreras, ‘Middle Horizon (Wari and Tiwanaku)’, in Peru: Art from the Chavín to the Incas, Paris: Paris-musées, Milan: Skira 2006, p. 120.

The ceramic vessel is decorated with a face sculpted in high relief, based on the imagery of the Gateway of the Sun at Tiahuanaco. Its form is derived from the Tiahuanaco kero or goblet, which was later adopted by the Incas. It ‘mingles highland and local south-coast motifs’,¹ from bands of plant and fret designs, a face decorated with knives, to a tunic made of rectangles with circles. Strong colour harmonies unite the slip painting, with the black base enlivened with yellow, orange, red-brown and cream hues. The plain inside slip repeats the red-brown used for the face.

The Staff God and his acolytes were known for their square faces, round eyes and tears made of ornaments. Here three knives with cat heads embellish the deity’s cheeks and nose. His teeth are transformed into feline fangs, and small plants surmount each eye. The motif is echoed around the rim, and follows the ‘Andean convention of showing plants with their roots’.² The complex relationship between the rival Huari and Tiahuanaco cultures is indicated by modern writers attributing the vessel to each: ‘Coastal Tiahuanaco style. From Cahuachi, Rio Grande de Nazca’,³ or Wari, found at Pacheco⁴ in the Nazca Valley. This results from the recent disentangling of the two cultures, and evidence of the Huari adoption of the Staff God, known from surviving Tiahuanaco stone sculpture.

Such a large vessel, one of a pair, probably had a ceremonial rather than a simple utilitarian purpose:

The Wari made offerings to their gods by breaking objects [such as this]. The gesture of sacrificing a work of art strongly suggests that the Wari considered them to be of considerable value. Thus, artists would make ephemeral pieces whose beauty would only survive temporarily in the memory of those taking part in the ceremony but eternally in the divine realm.⁵

Christine Dixon

1. Elizabeth P. Benson and William J. Conklin in Museums of the Andes, New York: Newsweek1981, p. 84.

2. Benson and Conklin, p. 85.

3. S. K. Lothrop, Treasures of Ancient America: Pre-Columbian art from Mexico to Peru, Geneva: Skira and New York: Rizzoli 1979, p. 209.

4. Mary Glowacki, ‘Shattered ceramics and offerings’, in Susan E. Bergh et al., Wari: Lords of the ancient Andes, New York: Cleveland Museum of Art and Thames and Hudson 2012, p. 147.

5. Luis Guillermo Lumbreras, ‘Middle Horizon (Wari and Tiwanaku)’, in Peru: Art from the Chavín to the Incas, Paris: Paris-musées, Milan: Skira 2006, p. 120.