Nasca bottle with seated figure
CA0360 · Visual art · South coast of Peru; 1–300 CE
Historical / contextual reference
Photograph of the specific selected museum object; identity checked by object ID and accession.
Credit: Nasca artist(s) / The Metropolitan Museum of Art. The Michael C. Rockefeller Memorial Collection, Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Raymond Wielgus, 1960
Rights: Public domain; Met Open Access
A seated human form becomes the body of a ceramic bottle, with a spout and connecting handle rising above it. The Metropolitan Museum explains that the vessel was built through coiling and modelling rather than a mould. Painted details distinguish fingers, toes, clothing and creatures associated with the sea. Its account proposes interpretations for the forehead feature and marine imagery but does not make every identification certain. This combination of container, body and painted surface gives future viewers several ways to approach one object. It can be read as skilled ceramic construction, as an image of a person and as evidence of attention to coastal life, without assuming that those categories were separate for its maker.
Why preserve it: Curatorial interpretation: It connects practical form and visual storytelling while showing how uncertain iconography should be documented.
Keep in mind: This is Nasca accession 1978.412.53, distinct from the catalog’s Moche seated bottle. Proposed fisherman and marine-species identifications remain tentative.