Art Institute of Chicago
Penguin Vessel
Ceramist unknown (Nazca)LinkedCulture matchlcp-bd1bf4c02d5e
- Date
- 350–500 CE
- Medium
- Earthenware and slip
- Culture
- Peruvian South Coast
- Department
- Arts of the Americas
- Institution
- Art Institute of Chicago
- Object ID
- 91201
This vessel, with its tiny, sculpted wings, is a rare depiction of a Humboldt penguin ( Spheniscus humboldti ) in Nasca art. Although Nasca peoples lived in a tropical desert, the adjacent waters of the Pacific Ocean are extremely cold due to the Humboldt Current, which flows northward from Antarctica. Since ancient times, the frigid sea has allowed colonies of penguins to thrive at the equator; but their numbers are now dwindling, and the species is considered vulnerable to extinction.
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Provenance & credit
As published by the source institution. Coverage varies — not every institution's open-data feed includes ownership history.
- Credit line
- Kate S. Buckingham Endowment
- Provenance
- Eduard Gaffron (1861–1931), Lima, Peru, from 1892 to 1912, then Berlin, from 1912 [History of the Department report (Joanne Behrens, 1985) and correspondence in curatorial file]; by descent to his children Mercedes Gaffron (1908–1993), Berlin then Durham, NC, and Hans Gaffron (1902–1979), Berlin then Chicago [correspondence and documentation of the Gaffron Collection in curatorial file]; sold to the Art Institute of Chicago, 1955.
Linked open data
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- Object type
- AAT300386308
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