Vessel with Killer Whales
100 BCE–500 CE
Medium
Ceramic and pigment
Dimensions
17.9 × 16.2 cm (7 1/16 × 6 3/8 in.)
Classification
earthenware
Department
Arts of the Americas
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Accession Number
91375
Rights
Public Domain
Art Historical Context
This striking ceramic vessel was created by the Nasca people of ancient Peru’s south coast between 100 BCE and 500 CE. Standing just over seven inches tall, it features painted images of killer whales executed in the rich, mineral-based pigments that distinguish Nasca pottery. The Nasca culture is celebrated for its technical mastery of ceramics, producing some of the most colorful and finely painted vessels in the ancient Andes. Nasca potters applied colored slips—liquid clay mixed with mineral pigments—directly onto the unfired surface before a single firing. This method produced durable, v...
About the Artist
Nasca
Nasca artists, active from approximately 100 BCE to 800 CE along the arid southern coast of Peru in the Rio Grande de Nazca and Ica Valleys, produced some of the most vibrant and technically innovative art of the ancient Americas. Their work emerged from the Paracas tradition, expanding on earlier resin-painted ceramics and complex textiles while introducing pre-fire slip painting in up to twelve ...