Rabbit Effigy Vessel
Mexico, Southern Veracruz, Classic Veracruz Culture, 600-900 CE
Ceramic, H 15.4 x L 15.7 x W 8.2 cm
On display at Penn Museum 68-30-1
Another one for #AndeanBearDay:
Spectacled Bear Effigy Jar Chimu, Peru, Late Intermediate Period, c.1300-1470 Blackware, 8 x 3.75 x 4.75 in (20.3 x 9.5 x 12.1 cm) Johnson Museum of Art 56.160
The Andean Bear, aka Spectacled Bear (Tremarctos ornatus), is South America's only extant bear species.
Happy #AndeanBearDay! The Andean Bear, aka Spectacled Bear (Tremarctos ornatus), is South America's only extant bear species.
Spectacled Bear Bottle Moche culture, Peru, 5th-7th century Ceramic, slip, H. 6.75 × W. 3.5 in. (17.1 × 8.9 cm) Metropolitan Museum of Art New York 63.112.5
"This ceramic stirrup-spout bottle was sculpted in the shape of a seated, cross-legged spectacled bear with human arms and hands resting on the knees. The bear wears a cream-colored tunic and a headdress tied under the chin, painted using red-ochre and cream slips. The creature’s face features a broad, vertical white stripe in the center, flanked by two red stripes, emulating both the natural coloration of the bear’s face and the type of face paint seen on ceramic portraits of human warriors. ...
Spectacled bears are less common in Moche iconography than other animals, but they may have been revered for certain powers. Spectacled bears may be small in comparison with its North American counterparts, but they are among the largest land carnivores in South America, found in both the cloud forest of the Andes and in the dry Prosopis forests of the desert coast. Although spectacled bears are more herbivorous than other bears, they are also known for their prowess in hunting, capable of bringing down sizeable prey, including deer and llamas. In Moche times they may have been seen as analogous to warriors, known for their strength and their ability to fight and capture prisoners. The bears may also have been associated with the world of the dead, as those on the coast are primarily nocturnal."
Thomas Pitts I (British, fl. c.1744-1793)
Stirrup cup in the form of a fox's head, 1771
Silver w/ gilt remnants, 6 x 8 x 14 cm (2 3/8 x 3 1/8 x 5 1/2 in.)
Inscription: “Success to the Tettcots Hunt and to the death of the Next”
on display at Harvard Art Museums
additional views via https://harvardartmuseums.org/collections/object/339949?position=339949
Oil flask (aryballos) in the form of a seated monkey
, c. 560 BCE
Terracotta, 9.5 x 5.1 cm (3 3/4 x 2 in.)
on display at Harvard Art Museums 1960.290
“In the 6th century BCE, workshops in…the multicultural contact zone…produced an array of faience flasks combining Egyptian & Greek elements [and] motifs….Whimsical monkey-shaped containers were popular in Italy.”
For when it’s #Caturday during #AmphibianWeek…
Vessel with Toad/Feline Moche culture, Peru Early Intermediate Period, 1-650 CE Ceramic, 7 1/4 x 4 x 5 1/4 in. (18.4 x 10.2 x 13.3 cm) Michael C. Carlos Museum 1989.008.061
New on the blog for #WorldDonkeyDay:
🫏
more photos and info on the blog!
For #InternationalBatAppreciationDay 🦇:
“The CMA’s bat vessel has traits of the species Dr. Velazco studied. Made on Peru’s north coast by an artist of the ancient Moche or Mochica culture (moe-chay, moe-cheek-ah) (AD 200–850), the vessel inspired him to name the species Histiotus mochica or, colloquially, the Moche leaf-eared bat. He did so to recognize the knowledge of Indigenous peoples and to honor the Moche and their connection to the natural world. Indeed, as he notes in a publication about the species, the bat vessel is so accurately depicted that it allowed precise identification of an animal previously unknown to science and thus stands as a testament to the Moche’s observational skills and profound interest in nature.”
More from VMFA visit:
1. Stirrup Vessel in the Form of a #Llama
Chavin (Peru), 500 BCE - 100 CE
Terracotta w/ polychrome slips
2. Stirrup Vessel in the Form of a #Duck
Moche (Peru), 200-500 CE
Terracotta w/ polychrome slips
#ToucanTuesday:
Handle Spout Vessel in Form of a Toucan
Moche culture, North Coast Peru, 100 BCE–500 CE
Ceramic & pigment
22.9 × 17.2 cm (9 × 6 3/4 in.)
For a belated #NationalFoxDay: 🦊
Fox Runner Effigy Vessel
Moche, North Coast region, Peru, c.400-700
Ceramic, pigment
Brooklyn Museum display
“The anthropomorphic fox on this effigy vessel wears a large disc headdress associated with the Ritual Runners, figures shown racing through the desert landscape in many examples of Moche art. Similar discs in gold and copper have been found in elite burials, suggesting that the Ritual Runners were a high-ranking group of adult males, possibly priests, who participated in special ceremonies throughout the Moche territory. Scholars believe that Moche priests consumed the hallucinogenic San Pedro cactus (Echinopsis pachanoi) to transform themselves into animal spirit helpers such as the fox.”
#FishFriday:
Fish-Shaped Box
Probably made in India, Lucknow or Hyderabad, 19th c.
Zinc alloy; cast, engraved, inlaid w/ silver & brass (bidri ware)
L 9 1/4 in (23.5 cm)
“Although the technique of inlaying metal known as bidri was invented in the Deccan in the 17th century, and Hyderabad remained a center for this type of metalwork into the 1800s, Lucknow, in northeastern India, also became an important center for production of bidri ware in the 18th and 19th centuries.”
Food Bowl: Frigate Bird with Shark Melanesian, Solomon Islands, 20th c. Wood w/ inlaid mother-of-pearl, 8 7/8 x 9 1/4 x 28 1/4 in. (22.54 x 23.5 x 71.8cm) Seattle Art Museum 65.24
"A sequence of species in a food chain is commemorated in this bowl. In a season that lasts from November to April, fishermen watch for frigate birds, who follow schools of small bait fish and are signals that a school of bonito is coming. As the bonito and bait fish stir up whirlpools of frothy activity, sharks swarm behind and devour the residue. This vessel merges two species in their cycle of consumption and that serve humans in feasts."
For #WorldElephantDay 🐘:
Vessel with Elephant Head + Jar in the Form of an Elephant Eastern Thailand or Cambodia, 11th-13th c. Glazed stoneware Brooklyn Museum display
For #InternationalCatDay 😻:
Lime Pot in the Shape of Cat Thailand (Buriram Province), Khmer Empire, 11th–12th c. Glazed pottery with incised decoration H. 3 1/2 in. (8.9 cm); W. 3 1/4 in. (8.3 cm) Diam. of rim: 1 in. (2.5 cm) Diam. of base: 2 1/8 in. (5.4 cm) The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York 2007.260
Ceramic Frog-Shaped Guttus (Oil Flask) South Italian, Apulian, 4th c. BCE Diameter: 1.5 cm (9/16 in.); Overall: 5.8 x 11.2 x 9.1 cm (2 5/16 x 4 7/16 x 3 9/16 in.) The Cleveland Museum of Art 1985.176
"Guttus is a Latin word referring to a small vessel with vertical spout and ring handle, probably used for pouring small amounts of precious liquids. Often, mold-made ceramic gutti take the form of animals, with realistic painted decoration."
Coati effigy vessel Inca style, Acomayo (Department of Cuzco, Peru) c. 1400-1532 Clay & pigment, h18 x w8.50 x d32.50 cm Museo de América No. 08570
The above piece was also just added to Indigenous art section of the coatis in art image bank: