Nazca Polychrome Dish with Trophy Heads & Pyramid Steps

Pre-Columbian, southern Peru, Nazca culture, ca. 100 BCE to 400 CE. A beautiful bowl with flared sides, a gently rounded base, and an exterior motif of repeated trophy heads above pyramid steps. Nazca pottery, thin-walled and well-formed, with abstract designs in strong contrast to the realism of its contemporary to the north, the Moche, is known from underground burial chambers. Perhaps the pyramid steps denotes the steps to the tomb, as in other parts of Mesoamerica, where being below stairs represents death iconographically. This jar was made to be placed in a grave, perhaps full of offerings or symbolic libations. Size: 7.5" W x 2.95" H (19 cm x 7.5 cm)

Provenance: ex-private Hans Juergen Westermann collection, Germany, collected from 1950-1960s

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#150546
Condition Report: Repaired and restored from multiple pieces. This is expertly done and almost impossible to discern. Approximately 80% of the pigment is original. Nice deposits on the surface, especially the lower exterior.