AIC: Arts of the Americas (Bot)

Gift of Nathan Cummings

Fragment of a Blackware Vessel with a Relief Depicting a Warrior https://www.artic.edu/artworks/8875/

Gift of Nathan Cummings

Stirrup Spout Vessel with Fineline Bean Warrior Motif https://www.artic.edu/artworks/8937/

Kate S. Buckingham Endowment

Double Spout Vessel Depicting Hummingbirds https://www.artic.edu/artworks/91366/

Gift of F. Louis Hoover

Mola https://www.artic.edu/artworks/32675/

Kate S. Buckingham Endowment

Jar in the Form of a Standing Figure https://www.artic.edu/artworks/91644/

This fragment, constructed with single interlocking warps and wefts, is composed of a pattern of over 20 step-frets rendered in 14 different colors. Nazca weavers are known for the wide range of colors employed in the production of their textiles. They achieved the various colors through dyeing and naturally colored yarns and by plying two different yarns together in order to produce additional colors. The irregularity of the pattern of the step frets displayed on this fragment may not reflect the original configuration of the design, as it may have been altered at a later date. Restricted gift of Mrs. Edwin A. Seipp

Panel Fragment https://www.artic.edu/artworks/2061/

Images of birds are often presented in polychrome ceramics and textiles created by Nazca artists. the birds depicted in this panel are delicately rendered in white outlining and colored highlights, with embroidery reminiscent of earlier Paracas needlework. In their beaks, they carry various flora along with crustaceans, fish, insects, snakes, spiders, and worms. The design may have deeper meaning, using the food chain as a metaphor for transformation. There is a group of several similar examples of embroidered birds of Nazca origin, often referred to as samplers. Some scholars theorize that these works relate to a specific workshop or are evidence of strict guidelines and regulations for production. Restricted gift of Mrs. Edwin A. Seipp

Sampler https://www.artic.edu/artworks/2059/

Kate S. Buckingham Endowment

Vessel Depicting a Costumed Ritual Performer Wearing a Feline Mask https://www.artic.edu/artworks/91393/

Gift of Nathan Cummings

Double-Spouted Orangeware Bottle https://www.artic.edu/artworks/124483/

Gift of Walter Randel

Standing Female Figurine https://www.artic.edu/artworks/24644/

Kate S. Buckingham Endowment

Double Spout Vessel Depicting an Abstract Animal or Being https://www.artic.edu/artworks/91516/

Kate S. Buckingham Endowment

Jar with Strap Handle Depicting Abstract Figure, Possibly a Monkey, with Plants https://www.artic.edu/artworks/91450/

Bequest of Lester K. and Rosalyn W. Olin

Vessel in the Form of a Seated Hunchback https://www.artic.edu/artworks/224583/

Gift of Nathan Cummings

Handle Spout Vessel in the Form of a Woman Riding a Llama https://www.artic.edu/artworks/9251/

Kate S. Buckingham Endowment

Cup with Rows of Geometric, Textile-like Patterns https://www.artic.edu/artworks/91309/

This altar depicts the head and torso of an individual wearing an ornate headdress and a large, woven mat pectoral emblem of rulership. He appears within a four-lobed cartouche, suggesting that he is a deceased ancestor who lives in the Underworld. The hieroglyphs that surround the figure describe the commemoration of a monument or structure; the text carved around the sides of the monument celebrate a successor’s completion of six years of kingship. Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Herbert Baker

Hieroglyphic Altar https://www.artic.edu/artworks/37817/

Kate S. Buckingham Endowment

Bowl with Incised and Painted Textile-Like Motifs https://www.artic.edu/artworks/91754/

Gift of Nathan Cummings

Portrait Vessel with Feline Headdress [Head of Feline is Missing] https://www.artic.edu/artworks/9362/

Gift of Ethel and Julian Goldsmith

Female Figurine https://www.artic.edu/artworks/198320/

At first glance, this panel of anthropomorphized monkeys engaged in violent conflict appears to be woven with a repeating pattern. However, no group is identical to another: each thread has been placed deliberately, and each motif formed with careful discernment. This panel’s dense tapestry weave creates the distinctive curvilinear forms characteristic of Peruvian textiles. Stitching tracks and threads at the top and bottom indicate that this panel is only part of a greater whole, perhaps a tunic or mantle. Kate S. Buckingham Endowment

Panel https://www.artic.edu/artworks/85245/

Kate S. Buckingham Endowment

Neck of a Large Ceremonial Jar in the Form of a Head https://www.artic.edu/artworks/91464/

The ancient Mexican city of Teotihuacan was once the largest city in all of the Americas. The pomp and color of this great city were expressed most distinctively through its monumental architecture. Facades of pyramids and interiors of palaces, temples, and homes were frequently decorated with splendid frescoes. The fragment shown here was part of a cycle painted on the interior walls of an aristocratic palace. It shows a rain priest walking or dancing in profile and wearing an elaborate headdress and costume. His speech-scroll, adorned with seashells and plants, indicates that he is praying for water and agricultural prosperity, which were highly valued in his society. Meaning “place of the gods,” Teotihuacan was the largest religious, military, and trading city in the Americas between A.D. 200 and 650, and it was inhabited by over one hundred thousand people at its peak. Designed with colossal pyramids and ritual plazas, the metropolis was built on a cosmologically oriented grid plan that embraced residential and manufacturing districts. This richly symbolic fragment from a Teotihuacan wall fresco depicts a ceremony that took place once every fifty-two years, a “century” in the ancient Mexican calendar system. A priest stands before a tied bundle of reeds representing the completion of a cycle of time. The bundle is impaled by the spiny points of maguey cactus leaves, with which the priestly protagonist of the scene has pricked himself to provide a blood offering. Water symbols in the form of shells and flowers are depicted within the speech-scroll curling from the priest’s mouth. Additional flowers and water are sprinkled from one of the priest’s hands, while in the other he holds an incense bag. Corresponding to the chants of a religious litany, this complex image was repeated with others on the walls of a chamber as a prayer of thanksgiving and for the renewal of agricultural fertility. African and Amerindian Art Purchase Fund

Mural Fragment Representing a Ritual of World Renewal https://www.artic.edu/artworks/14968/

Kate S. Buckingham Endowment

Double Spout Vessel Depicting Costumed Figure with Decapitated Head https://www.artic.edu/artworks/91384/

Bequest of Alan R. Brodie

Sarape with Compound Banded Design https://www.artic.edu/artworks/210029/

Kate S. Buckingham Endowment

Corn Popper Depicting Costumed Runners with a Modeled Handle https://www.artic.edu/artworks/91559/

Gift of Mrs. Ivan Albright

Self-Portrait (No. 2) https://www.artic.edu/artworks/104260/

Kate S. Buckingham Endowment

Bowl Depicting Vencejo Birds https://www.artic.edu/artworks/90917/

Gift of David and Cindy Van Zelst

Polychrome Jar https://www.artic.edu/artworks/194439/

Kate S. Buckingham Endowment

Jar Depicting a Human Head, Probably a Trophy Head https://www.artic.edu/artworks/91345/

Gift of F. Louis Hoover

Mola https://www.artic.edu/artworks/34015/