Double Spout and Bridge Bottle with Snake
Date: 5th-3rd century B.C.
Geography: Ica Valley, Peru
Culture: Paracas
Medium: Ceramic, pigment
Dimensions: Overall: 5 in. (12.7 cm)
Classification: Ceramics-Containers
Credit Line: Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Nathan Cummings, 1964
Accession Number: 64.228.89
The Paracas culture thrived during an era in which technical and artistic ingenuity was celebrated. Their innovative and complex pictorial tradition is particularly embodied in their ceramic traditions. This double spouted bridge bottle with incised design and bright colors is part of Paracas ritual paraphernalia, characteristic of fineware ceramics in both form and decoration. The brilliant colors on this and other Paracas vessels were achieved by applying the paint after the vessel was fired, otherwise this is impossible to achieve. This is a signature characteristic of Paracas techne, the use of post-fire resin painting. The linear serpent with a head on opposing ends winds around the vessel. Geometric images, circles on the serpent’s body and the geometric images, use alternating colors patterns which is a Paracas tradition that is also practiced on textiles.
