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Amano Museum - Ceramics, Lima, Peru

Mr. Yoshitaro Amano recovered a large amount of material, including ceramics, textiles, various organic material and metals. He always had a great admiration for ancient Peruvians and sought to understand their history.

Among his main interests was understanding the functionality of objects, as well as the recovery of iconography and its interpretation.

Mr. Yoshitaro attached special importance to certain pieces in his collection that have unique characteristics or special uses. These pieces are some of those exhibited here.

The ceramics collection at the Amano museum
Clay art from all cultures.


Panoramic view of the ceramics section of the Amano museum

Formative stage - Kotosh, Cupisnique and Chavín, 1500 BCE - 100 BCE
In the periodization of pre-Columbian Peru the Formative Period divides into:

  • 1) the Initial Period, from 1800 BCE – 900 BCE (sites and cultures: Early Chiripa, Kotosh culture, Cupisnique, Las Haldas, Sechin Alto), and
  • 2) the Early Horizon or Formative Period, 900 BCE – 200 BCE, (Chavín, Late Chiripa, Paracas, Chankillo).
  • See more at Formative stage: Formative stage - Wikipedia.

Formative stage - Paracas, 800 BCE - 200 CE
The Paracas culture was an Andean society existing between approximately 800 BCE and 100 BCE, with an extensive knowledge of irrigation and water management and that made significant contributions in the textile arts.

  • It was located in what today is the Ica Region of Peru.
  • Paracas ceramics is distinguishable from the Topará culture and Paracas-Nazca transition as a result of the difference in the slip used to create and decorate the ceramic pieces.
  • See more at Paracas culture - Wikipedia.

Vicús and Virú, 400 BCE - 200 CE

  • Vicús culture was an important early culture in Peru from 1000/200 BCE to 300/600 CE. They lived in the Piura region in the northern Pacific coast of Peru.
  • The Virú culture was a pre-Columbian, pre-Inca culture that flourished in the Virú Valley on the northwest coast of Peru. It marks the start of the Early Intermediate Period of Peru, dating roughly around 200 BCE.
  • See more at Vicús culture - Wikipedia and Virú culture - Wikipedia.

Mochica, 100 CE - 800 CE
The Moche civilization flourished in northern Peru with its capital near present-day Moche, Trujillo, Peru.

  • Moche pottery is some of the most varied in the world. The use of mold technology is evident, which would have enabled the mass production of certain forms.
  • But Moche ceramics vary widely in shape and theme, with most important social activities documented in pottery, including war, agriculture, metalwork, weaving, and erotica.
  • See more at Moche culture - Wikipedia.

Nasca, 200 BCE - 600 CE
The Nazca culture (also Nasca) was the archaeological culture that flourished from c. 100 BCE to 800 CE beside the arid, southern coast of Peru in the river valleys of the Rio Grande de Nazca drainage and the Ica Valley.

  • Strongly influenced by the preceding Paracas culture, which was known for extremely complex textiles, the Nazca produced an array of crafts and technologies such as ceramics, textiles, and geoglyphs.
  • The Nazca culture is characterized by its polychrome pottery, painted with at least 12 distinct colors.
  • The shift from post-fire resin painting to pre-fire slip painting marked the end of Paracas-style pottery and the beginning of Nazca-style pottery.
  • See more at Nazca culture - Wikipedia.

Recuay, 100 CE - 600 CE; Cajamarca, 200 BCE - 1470 CE

  • The Recuay culture was a pre-Columbian culture of highland Peru that flourished from 200 BCE to 600 CE and was related to the Moche culture of the north coast. It is named after the Recuay District, in the Recuay Province, in the Ancash Region of Peru. Recuay culture features a distinctive pottery with decoration in three colors: black, red, and white. Recuay potters sculptured small figures of humans, jaguars, llamas, and other animals, which they attached to the vessel. Their pottery is related to Virú cultural pottery (also known as Gallinazo). The Viru Valley lies just north of the Recuay area.
  • The Cajamarca culture began flourishing as a culture during the first millennium CE. It is known essentially only from its fine ceramics made with locally abundant white kaolin paste fired at high temperatures (over 1,000 °C). Cajamarca culture pottery has long been recognized as a prestige ware, given its distinctiveness and wide, if sporadic, distribution.
  • See more at Recuay culture - Wikipedia and Cajamarca - Wikipedia.

Huari, 600 CE - 1100 CE
The Wari (Spanish: Huari) were a Middle Horizon civilization that flourished in the south-central Andes and coastal area of modern-day Peru, from about 500 to 1000 CE.

  • Ceramics were typically polychrome and frequently depicted food and animals.
  • Conchopata appears to have been the ceramic center of Wari culture given the high quantities of pottery tools, firing rooms, pit kilns, potsherds, and ceramic molds.
  • See more at Wari culture - Wikipedia.

Regional states - Lambayeque, Chimú and Chincha, 900 CE - 1470 CE.

  • The Sican (also Sicán) culture is the culture that inhabited what is now the north coast of Peru between about 750 and 1375 CE. The Sican culture is also referred to as Lambayeque culture, after the name of the region in Peru. It succeeded the Moche culture. The Early Sican culture is known for the highly polished, black-finish ceramics found in the La Leche Valley. This black-finish ceramic style began in the Moche culture prior to the Early Sican, and shows the sharing of cultures in the region. Much of the ceramics were examples of a single spout, loop-handle bottle, featuring an anthropomorphic-avian (bird) face at the spout base. The face consisted of bulging eyes, a hooked beak or triangular projection instead of a nose, stylized ears, and no mouth.
  • Chimor (also Kingdom of Chimor or Chimú Empire) was the political grouping of the Chimú culture. The culture arose about 900 CE, succeeding the Moche culture, and was later conquered by the Inca emperor Topa Inca Yupanqui around 1470. The main features of Chimú ceramics were small sculptures, and manufacturing molded and shaped pottery for ceremonial or daily use. Ceramics were usually stained black, although there are some variations. Lighter ceramics were also produced in smaller quantities. The characteristic brightness was obtained by rubbing with a rock that previously had been polished. Many animals, fruits, characters, and mystical entities have been represented pictorially on Chimú ceramics.
  • The Chincha culture (or Ica-Chincha culture) was the culture of a Native Peruvian people living near the Pacific Ocean in south west Peru. The Chincha Kingdom and their culture flourished in the Late Intermediate Period (900 CE – 1450 CE).
  • See more at Sican culture - Wikipedia, Chimor - Wikipedia and Chincha culture - Wikipedia.

Chancay, 1100 - 1450 CE
The Chancay were a pre-Hispanic archeological civilization that developed on the central coast of Peru, from about 1000 to 1470 CE.

  • The Chancay civilization produced ceramics on a large scale using moulds. However, open vessels with more than 400 different types of drawings that have yet to be decrypted, uniquely created by artisans, have been found.
  • See more at Chancay culture: Ceramics - Wikipedia.

Chancay - Masterpieces, 1100 - 1450 CE

Chancay - Staff god, 1100 - 1450 CE
In "Southern Andean Iconographic Series" the Staff God pose is a religious icon and a standardized pose. The pose shows a front-facing human or human-like figure with vertical attributes, one in each hand.

  • Some scholars think that some of these personages are possible depictions of Viracocha or Thunupa (the Aymara weather god).
  • There are scholars who maintain that the Wari-Tiwanaku Staff God is the forerunner of the Incan principal gods, Sun, Moon, and Thunder. It served as the primary religious icon of the entire Peruvian Andes, particularly during the Early Horizon (900-200 BCE) and beyond.
  • The worship of Staff Gods spread to the Central Andes during the Middle Horizon (600-1000 CE). This is supported by excavated Middle Horizon artifacts that resembled the Staff-God.
  • See more at Staff God - Wikipedia.

Chancay - Musical instruments, 1100 - 1450 CE

Chancay - Animals, 1100 - 1450 CE

Inca, 1200 CE - 1532 CE
The Inca Empire, officially known as the Realm of the Four Parts (Quechua: Tawantinsuyu, lit. "four parts together"), was the largest empire in pre-Columbian America. The administrative, political, and military center of the empire was in the city of Cusco.

  • Ceramics were painted using the polychrome technique portraying numerous motifs including animals, birds, waves, felines (popular in the Chavin culture) and geometric patterns found in the Nazca style of ceramics.
  • In a culture without a written language, ceramics portrayed the basic scenes of everyday life, including the smelting of metals, relationships and scenes of tribal warfare.
  • The most distinctive Inca ceramic objects are the Cusco bottles or "aryballos".
  • See more at Inca Empire - Wikipedia.

Selection of pre-Columbian ceramic vessels

Transition, 1532 CE

See also

Sources

Location

Location: Retiro 160, Miraflores 15073, Peru