This long-term installation includes pre-Columbian ceramic sculpture from a number of cultures in present-day Peru as well as works from the Mayan culture in southwestern Mexico and the Cuna culture in Panama and neighboring regions.
Separated from other world populations for several thousand years, the ancient peoples of the Americas developed highly refined and original cultures. The peoples of ancient Peru were part of the remarkable range of civilizations that extended from Mexico to Bolivia and created cities and sacred sites planned according to precise astronomical and mathematical calculations. Such complex forms of social organization and knowledge, as well as the art and material culture they inspired, continues to impress researchers and the general modern imagination.
The Peruvian collections date from 1500 B.C. to the fall of the Incan Empire three thousand years later and they include works of a wide variety of shapes and functions including double-bodied bridge jars, stirrup spouts, and effigy jars. Works feature painted and relief decorations that range from imagery of crops, animals and human figures to bold, abstracted geometrical designs.
This display, which will be on view for the next several years, has been augmented with a generous long-term loan from the Princeton University Art Museum. Works are contextualized with maps and explanatory text about the various cultures and the traditions that influenced their artistic production.
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