Page 285 - Perú indígena y virreinal

items in such a way that they were able to use it to reflect their way of life and customs, which is why we can learn much more from these representations, expressive and relatively realistic as they are, than from rigorous archaeological excavations. Throughout the Peruvian region this is very much the case, given that the ceramic art of Ancient Peru represents, perhaps, one of the high-points of pre-Hispanic American art.
The potter’s wheel was not used in America, which enabled potters to escape from the slavery of circular forms and give free rein to their imaginations. Peruvian artists used various techniques: direct modelling or the moulding of a vessel from a lump of clay coexisted alongside the technique of coiling, or superimposing rolls of clay which were then joined and smoothed over until the desired form was created. With both techniques potters could use the tilla, a stone or a piece of disk-shaped pottery over which the receptacle could be moulded, serving as a kind of primitive wheel. Projecting elements such as spouts or handles, were made in the same way, being subsequently added to the main body of the piece. Pottery items as sophisticated as those of Nasca were always hand-made. A highly characteristic technique employed was spatula-work, using a spatula and anvil in order to shape the walls of the receptacle by working the outside with a spatula whilst the inside was formed using a small “anvil”, a smooth round pebble or the potter’s own hand, which produced a characteristic surface finish. This technique is a distinguishing mark of the Sicán pottery produced during the beginning of the Late Intermediate Period in the region of Lambayeque.
During the Regional Developments or Early Intermediate Period, moulds were brought into play, which would lead to a form of mass production. The moulds were made of baked clay, with the vessel being formed by two complementary moulds that were separated once the filling had dried. The piece was then carefully finished by hand. The use of the mould was characteristic of Northern Peru, due to its proximity to Ecuador, whilst moulds were also very commonly used, for example, in Moche pottery production and during the subsequent Chimu period. However, the Moche combined moulding with subsequent modelling, achieving a remarkable degree of realism.
Once the receptacle was formed, the surface was smoothed down, and after drying in the sun, tended to be dipped in a bath of very diluted coloured clay, which could then be polished with the aid of various objects in order to produce a specific gloss. This was the moment for applying the painted decoration, if there was any. The colours were of mineral or plant origin and the paint was applied with the aid of a brush, with the designs first being outlined with black or other colours and then subsequently filled in, always with plain colours. In some styles, such as those of Paracas or Pucará, the designs were highlighted with incisions.
A special decorative technique which we can observe in Salinar, Viru and Recuay pottery is known as resist painting or “negative” painting. It consisted in applying a resistant material on the surface of the vessel according to the design the potter wished to create and then, after dipping the piece in diluted clay, removing this material in order to reveal the “negative” decorative motifs beneath.
The colours were fixed by firing and this process was used to create decorative effects. Oxidization during the firing process produced a red-coloured type of pottery. Conversely, preventing the entry of air during the firing process produced a characteristic black- coloured type of pottery, which, combined with a careful polishing process, resulted in a highly striking black gloss. Black pottery was extremely typical of Chavin and Cupisnique during the Formative Period and of Sicán and Chimu during the Regional States Period.
Many of the shapes employed in Peruvian pottery were also widely employed in other cultural areas. These included shapes such as bowls, cups, large cups, plates and pitchers, forms which have a utilitarian purpose, reminiscent of “household crockery”. Items of this kind were commonplace as of the Early Formative Period, when pottery techniques first appeared in Peru, right up until the time of the Spanish Conquest. These items were not limited to vessels for domestic use, either, but also took the form of luxury pottery items, very often serving as the support for complex decorative arrangements. We can observe such pieces, for example, in Chavin or in Paracas, but also in subsequent periods, as in the case of Nasca pottery, and even during later periods, as in Chancay pottery.
In some cases the form was adapted in order to provide a better decorative support, which meant that the item lost practically all its functional qualities. This was the case, for example, with the large Moche plates, featuring huge open edges on which decorative
motifs were produced in the form of a wide band. Or sometimes these items acquired new functions, as in the case of the delicate plates used by the Incas for offerings, the pucus, of circular and shallow form and featuring a handle-haft finished in the form of an animal’s head, usually that of a bird. The function would sometimes determine the form, such as the size, as in the case of the Inca miniature receptacles that were deposited as offerings on the high peaks of the Andes, known as the high sanctuaries.
In other cases, special variations of these traditional forms were produced. In this respect, we might mention the “kero”, a flat-based cup featuring slightly convex sides, an appropriate and highly characteristic shape in Inca pottery, one that would continue to be used in wooden form even during the Colonial Period, but which had already made its appearance in Tiwanako pottery and continued to predominate in Wari. In other cases, irrespective of additional decoration, we can observe a strong aesthetic intention in the way the creators played around with the shape, an effect taken to its ultimate extreme in the stylized Tiwanako “kero” cups, strongly bell-shaped and supported by a base of almost impossible design.
We also find shapes that are characteristic of specific cultures: a series of elegant bottles produced in one of the Chavin styles, in which the stylized neck is joined in a gentle curve to the spherical body; tripod bowls exclusive to Cajamarca; the Inca aríbalo, whose name derives from its similarity to the Greek form, this being a characteristic pitcher with a conical base, spherical body, cylindrical neck with open edges, an animal-like protuberance at the beginning of the neck and two small bow-shaped handles.
However, it is, perhaps, the bottle, in its multiple varieties, that constitutes the most characteristic form in Peruvian pottery. In this respect, we might first highlight the spherical bottle with a “stirrup spout”. The body was more or less spherical in shape, featuring a flattened or convex base, and the spout acquired a curved form, from the middle of which emerged another part of the neck, in this case vertical. This shape is extremely ancient and first made its appearance in Machalilla culture during the Middle Formative Period in Ecuador. In Peru it was to become a highly characteristic form that presented multiple variations, but that was especially predominant in the northern region. It appeared in the Formative Period in Chavin and in Cupisnique, although also in Ancón and Chupas, in Salinar and in Vicús pottery, from where it would be adopted by Moche culture, that would make it its most typical form. In fact, it was in this culture that this form would achieve its most versatile expression, surviving up until the latter years of Moche history and still featuring prominently in the Chimu style.
Another pattern that was also adopted from Ecuadorian pottery, in this case from Chorrera, was the straight-necked bottle with handles, which featured mostly in northern styles such as Vicús pottery, where it appeared for the first time, Salinar pottery, and later on in Chimu and in Sicán pottery, where we find a characteristic type that presents a pedestal base and sculptured spout.
One typically Peruvian variant of this form was the spherical bottle featuring two spouts and a handle-bridge, generally presenting a flattened shape. The body of the bottle could assume many forms, ranging from spherical to lentil-shaped and including even a sculptured design. The necks would be small, conical, hardly visible or spectacularly long, in the latter case becoming the most prominent feature of the vessel. Cavities are found in some Paracas pottery and some researchers have considered the possibility of an Amazonian origin. This form was also highly characteristic of Nasca, and was also found in Lima and in the north, in Salinar.
However, it is the sculptured bottles, in which all or part of the bottle has been transformed into a figure or part of a figure, preserving the spout and the characteristic handle, that we tend to associate in our minds with Peruvian pottery, especially with spectacular Moche pottery and Chimu pottery later on. This conception of sculptured pottery originated once again during the Ecuadorian Late Formative Period, in Chorrera, and to some extent it can be observed in practically all of the Peruvian styles. The sculptural representation may be human-like, animal-like or even plant-like; it may represent the entire figure or only part of it, generally the head, but also other parts of the body such as the feet, hands and even the sexual organs, whilst in many styles we find “architectural” representations.
The body of the bottle may also be flattened, even adopting a shape similar to that of a cube, whilst always maintaining its function as a receptacle. Such items may form a kind
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