Pre-Columbian, Peru, Middle Horizon period, Nazca or Wari (Huari), ca. 5th to 9th century CE. A kero (quero), a cup in the form of a trophy head with corn stalk (maize) details. The head is clearly dead, with large stitches around the mouth, sewing it shut, and shiny black eyes with no pupils. The nose is formed of a stalk of corn and corn stalks also descend from the sides of the eyes like teardrops. Above the head, the upper portion of the vessel has been painted dark red with a motif of corn sprouting upward in white, black, and brown. The head's ears project from the sides of the vessel, forming handles. This cup was undoubtedly ritualistic, perhaps used for libations or as a grave offering. Size: 3.3" W x 4.1" H (8.4 cm x 10.4 cm)

In ancient Peru, corn was not the staple food stuff that it was in Mesoamerica; instead, it seems to have been used mainly to make chicha, a beer, and, possibly, a stronger hallucinogenic brew when combined with cactus juice. Nazca iconography of corn almost always shows it in the stalk, with the cob partially exposed. The Nazca linked trophy heads with corn - sometimes even portraying exposed ears of corn as trophy heads - because they believed that the taking of heads provided the necessary supernatural power to allow agricultural crops to grow. By Phase 5, it seems that the Nazca were using plants and trophy heads almost interchangeably, as if one was the currency to create the other. Around 500 CE., the Wari (Huari) people, centered in the Ayacucho region, held dominance in the south-central Andes. They engaged with contemporaneous societies, including the influential city of Tiwanaku in present-day Bolivia and the communities in the Nazca region along the southern coast of Peru. The exact nature of Wari's interactions with these and other groups remains unclear, but their impact on Wari art is widely acknowledged.

Provenance: private Van Buskirk collection, Tucson, Arizona USA; ex-Artemis Gallery; ex-private Santa Fe, New Mexico, USA collection

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#183886

Professionally repaired and restored from multiple pieces. Infill and overpainting to breaklines and cannot be seen on the exterior. Lines are visible on interior. Great preservation to form and areas of manganese deposits on the surface, especially on the interior.