Double spout and bridge vessels are a common form of Nazca pottery, and are unique to their locality. They can be traced back to Paracas ceramics of the Ica Valley, at sites such as Ocucaje and Chiquerillo, in the period 800 to 200 BC. Their shape in the Early Nazca period became increasingly globular compared with those of their predecessors. Polychrome slips such as these also indicate Nazca culture, as ornamentation departed from the earlier use of incised and resin-painted designs in Late Paracas and Proto-Nazca ceramics. By the Early Nazca period:

[the] incised lines which had outlined the color zones on Proto-Nasca vessels were replaced by a thin line of black slip. This practice of outlining with black slip continued through the subsequent Nasca phases, and remained a major characteristic of south coast ceramics [until colonial times].¹

The vessel shows a feline figure with whiskers sweeping up to its ears. It resembles a mask, such as a cut-gold version (cats 41, 64) or vice versa. The deity’s head and beautifully decorated body evoke the appearance and markings of the Pampas cat (leopardus pajeros or colocolo) or ocelot (leopardus pardalis). Small wild cats would have been seen by local people as much more benign than the large jaguar of the tropics. They were playful and, although fierce, not dangerous towards humans; they were usually seen in grasslands, fields and near water. Their solitary nature and ability to hunt small game would have given them a significant role in the spiritual world view of coastal peoples.

Another possible identification is the otter (Lutra felina), still seen along waterways in the area:

it would have been natural for the ancient inhabitants to have regarded it as possessing a beneficent spirit toward agriculture. The whiskers of the otter slant back toward its ears, whereas the cat whiskers do not.²

The ceramic lacks the trophy-head imagery found on many Nazca pots (cats 42, 44, 48–50). The small feline face holds a corncob in its mouth, which takes the place of the severed head often depicted hanging from the tongues of trophy-head cult deities. The substitution of corn can probably be attributed to the ocelot deity’s association with agricultural fertility. As the Nazca style developed, representations of this deity became less feline in character, and were increasingly combined with complex anthropomorphic figures.

Christine Dixon

1. Christopher B. Donnan, Ceramics of ancient Peru, Los Angeles: Fowler Museum of Cultural History, UCLA 1992, p. 48.

2. Alan R. Sawyer, ‘Paracas and Nazca iconography’, in Alana Cordy-Collins and Jean Stern (eds), Pre-Columbian art history: Selected readings, Tunbridge Wells: Costello Educational 1980, p. 380.

Double spout and bridge vessels are a common form of Nazca pottery, and are unique to their locality. They can be traced back to Paracas ceramics of the Ica Valley, at sites such as Ocucaje and Chiquerillo, in the period 800 to 200 BC. Their shape in the Early Nazca period became increasingly globular compared with those of their predecessors. Polychrome slips such as these also indicate Nazca culture, as ornamentation departed from the earlier use of incised and resin-painted designs in Late Paracas and Proto-Nazca ceramics. By the Early Nazca period:

[the] incised lines which had outlined the color zones on Proto-Nasca vessels were replaced by a thin line of black slip. This practice of outlining with black slip continued through the subsequent Nasca phases, and remained a major characteristic of south coast ceramics [until colonial times].¹

The vessel shows a feline figure with whiskers sweeping up to its ears. It resembles a mask, such as a cut-gold version (cats 41, 64) or vice versa. The deity’s head and beautifully decorated body evoke the appearance and markings of the Pampas cat (leopardus pajeros or colocolo) or ocelot (leopardus pardalis). Small wild cats would have been seen by local people as much more benign than the large jaguar of the tropics. They were playful and, although fierce, not dangerous towards humans; they were usually seen in grasslands, fields and near water. Their solitary nature and ability to hunt small game would have given them a significant role in the spiritual world view of coastal peoples.

Another possible identification is the otter (Lutra felina), still seen along waterways in the area:

it would have been natural for the ancient inhabitants to have regarded it as possessing a beneficent spirit toward agriculture. The whiskers of the otter slant back toward its ears, whereas the cat whiskers do not.²

The ceramic lacks the trophy-head imagery found on many Nazca pots (cats 42, 44, 48–50). The small feline face holds a corncob in its mouth, which takes the place of the severed head often depicted hanging from the tongues of trophy-head cult deities. The substitution of corn can probably be attributed to the ocelot deity’s association with agricultural fertility. As the Nazca style developed, representations of this deity became less feline in character, and were increasingly combined with complex anthropomorphic figures.

Christine Dixon

1. Christopher B. Donnan, Ceramics of ancient Peru, Los Angeles: Fowler Museum of Cultural History, UCLA 1992, p. 48.

2. Alan R. Sawyer, ‘Paracas and Nazca iconography’, in Alana Cordy-Collins and Jean Stern (eds), Pre-Columbian art history: Selected readings, Tunbridge Wells: Costello Educational 1980, p. 380.