Pre-Columbian, Peru (south coast), probably Middle Nazca, Phase 5, ca. 450 to 550 CE. One of the most striking vessels I've seen from the Nazca! 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 may have been used to give an offering of an alcoholic drink in a grave, where the vast majority of known Nazca pottery has been found. 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.

Provenance: private Santa Fe, New Mexico, USA collection

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#124792

Repaired from multiple pieces, but repairs are well done and cannot be seen on the exterior. Pretty manganese deposits on the surface, especially on the interior.