Large globular vessel; Peru; Nazca-Huari transition

Large globular vessel; Peru; Nazca-Huari transition period, 800-1000 AD.Attached thermoluminescence.It presents restorations on the neck. Body intact.Measures: 38 x 30 x 27 cm; 45 cm (base).Huari vessel of great size, complete and richly adorned with polychrome, with geometric and zoomorphic motifs, possibly of religious meaning, arranged in perfectly differentiated bands. The lower part is practically unornamented, which could indicate that the vessel would have remained partially buried in the ground or covered. The main motifs, two large multicolored figures, occupy most of the upper part of the belly. Finally, the neck is clearly defined by the change in the tone of the polychrome that becomes reddish, both in the aforementioned area and in the hollowed out mouth of the piece. For the ornamental motifs that the piece presents, it is possible that its utility was related to a purpose of magical-religious character, since it seems to represent a great shaman covered with a great mask and crowned with an enormous headdress. During the shamanic rites it was very frequent to use substances that facilitated the chief to enter in certain states of trance.The Huari (or Wari) culture flourished in the central Andes between the 7th and 13th centuries A.D., extending as far as the current Peruvian departments of Lambayeque, Arequipa and Cusco. Their pottery, in constant evolution throughout the history of this culture, presents different styles, and includes all types of vessels and other objects, many of them zoomorphic or anthropomorphic, generally pieces for ceremonial use. Huari ceramics were influenced by three cultures: the Nazca (varied polychromy), the Huarpa (construction techniques) and the Tiahuanaco (pictorial motifs). In fact, scholars say that the Huari is the synthesis of these three Andean cultures. The oldest Huari pieces are large in size, with a clear Tiahuanaco influence, although little by little the objects will be smaller and mass-produced. The characteristic motifs of Huari ceramics include brushed symbolic elements, representations of animals, mythological beings and mythical beings with feline heads.