Jar with human face and double-headed serpents
- Wari (Huari)
- 750–900 CE
This face-neck jar, a common form that correlates the storage vessel with the human figure, reflects aspects of elite feasting and the use of vibrant polychrome slip paints developed on the south coast, applied here to distinctive bi-cephalic (two-headed) serpentine elements.
Kimberly L. Jones, PhD, Inca: Conquests of the Andes / Los Incas y las conquistas de los Andes, Label text [1984.W.219; 1997.120; 2005.32], 2015.
- Huari (Wari) ceramic jars of the face-neck type range in size from a height of seven inches to an oversize version that is thirty inches tall. The vessel form is functional, oversize examples having been used for the fermentation of alcoholic beverages such as maize and grain-based beers and smaller jars probably for serving those beverages. The jars also functioned ritually as offerings, a central feature of Huari (Wari) religion. The unbroken condition of this jar suggests that it was buried with an elite individual.