Vessel; Nazca culture, Peru, AD 200-600. Polychrome ceramic. It shows slight loss of material due to the passage of time. Measurements: 20 x 15.5 cm. Rare polychrome Nazca globular polychrome vessel with two short conical spouts connected by a strap-bridge handle. The walls are decorated with a mythological figure with two heads and a wavy serpentine body with a crest. The Nazca culture developed in Peru in the valleys of the present-day department of Ica, between the 1st and 7th centuries, and had its main centre at Cahuachi. Its pottery is one of the most highly regarded in ancient Peru, both for its quality and its variety. The Nazca used a peculiar technique, which consisted of painting the entire surface of the vessel before firing, with polychrome pigments applied in up to eleven gradations of colour, with a wide variety of shades.

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