Penguin Vessel

350–500 CE

Ceramist unknown (Nazca)

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.

Status: On View, Gallery 136
Department: Arts of the Americas

Artist: Unknown ceramist
Title: Penguin Vessel
Place: Peruvian South Coast (Object made in)
Date Dates are not always precisely known, but the Art Institute strives to present this information as consistently and legibly as possible. Dates may be represented as a range that spans decades, centuries, dynasties, or periods and may include qualifiers such as c. (circa) or BCE.: Made 350 CE–500 CE
Medium: Ceramic and pigment
Dimensions: 20.8 × 14.3 cm (8 3/16 × 5 5/8 in.)
Credit Line: Kate S. Buckingham Endowment
Reference Number: 1955.1965
IIIF Manifest The International Image Interoperability Framework (IIIF) represents a set of open standards that enables rich access to digital media from libraries, archives, museums, and other cultural institutions around the world. Learn more.: https://api.artic.edu/api/v1/artworks/91201/manifest.json

Wendell C. Bennett, Ancient Arts of the Andes, exh. cat. (Museum of Modern Art, 1954), 60, fig. 65.
Alan R. Sawyer, Animal Sculpture in Pre-Columbian Art, exh. cat. (Art Institute of Chicago, 1957), pg. 43 (ill.).
Allen Wardwell, Primitive Art in the Collections of the Art Institute of Chicago (Art Institute of Chicago, 1965), fig. 9 (ill.).

Museum of Modern Art, New York, Ancient Arts of the Andes, Jan. 25-March 21, 1954; travelled to Minneapolis Institute of Arts and the California Palace of the Legion of Honor, San Francisco, cat.
Art Institute of Chicago, Animal Sculpture in Pre-Columbian Art, Oct. 12, 1957–Feb. 2, 1958, cat. pg. 43 (ill.).

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.

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Date Dates are not always precisely known, but the Art Institute strives to present this information as consistently and legibly as possible. Dates may be represented as a range that spans decades, centuries, dynasties, or periods and may include qualifiers such as c. (circa) or BCE.

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Date Dates are not always precisely known, but the Art Institute strives to present this information as consistently and legibly as possible. Dates may be represented as a range that spans decades, centuries, dynasties, or periods and may include qualifiers such as c. (circa) or BCE.

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IIIF Manifest The International Image Interoperability Framework (IIIF) represents a set of open standards that enables rich access to digital media from libraries, archives, museums, and other cultural institutions around the world.

Learn more.