Pre-Columbian, South Coast Peru, Nazca, ca. 3rd to 7th century CE. A beautiful, hand-built polychrome vessel with a rounded base, gently sloping walls, and a pair of cylindrical spouts with a short stirrup-shaped handle arching in-between. The highly-burnished vessel is decorated with solid black slip on the base and deep maroon slip ground along the upper body. Each hemisphere displays a characteristic stylized hummingbird with a large head and a triangular beak, petite feet, colorful wings, and a lengthy tail, all in black, cream, pale-salmon, orange, and white pigments. Size: 4.125" W x 5.7" H (10.5 cm x 14.5 cm).

Artwork from the Peruvian Nazca culture has been dominated by representations of avian forms, especially hummingbirds. Peru is home to 127 different known species of hummingbirds, so their influence on ancient Mesoamerican artwork comes as no surprise. What people during this time period thought of the avian creatures, however, is not clear - in Mesoamerica, they were associated with war and seen as ferocious, while in the Amazon they were associated with medicine because of their long, probing beaks being similar to the process by which "spirit darts" were taken from the sick and wounded.

For a stylistically-similar example, please see The British Museum, museum number Am1937,-.12:
https://www.britishmuseum.org/research/collection_online/collection_object_details.aspx?objectId=478883&partId=1

Provenance: private Southern California, USA collection, acquired in the 1970s to mid-1980s

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#140804

Small chips to base, body, spouts, and handle and fading to some areas of pigmentation. Scattered areas of light manganese blooms, and light earthen deposits throughout.