Skip Navigation

Man and Llama Vessel

Arts of the Americas

This vessel may represent a shaman, or ritual specialist, taking a llama to be sacrificed to Pachamama (Mother Earth) or to the mountain spirits (apus). Such ceremonies occur today during the planting and harvesting of crops in order to encourage a fertile season. The shaman, shown in an elaborate headdress and finely woven tunic, holds an ornate panpipe, or antara, whose sound imitates the animal’s cries.


Esta vasija puede representar a un chamán, o especialista ritual, llevando a una llama a ser sacrificada a la Pachamama (Madre Tierra) o a los espíritus de la montaña (apus). Tales ceremonias ocurren actualmente durante la siembra y cosecha para promover una estación fértil. El chamán, llevando un tocado elaborado y túnica finamente tejida, sostiene una zampoña decorada, o antara, cuyo sonido imita el grito del animal.
CULTURE Recuay
MEDIUM Ceramic, pigment
DATES 200 B.C.E.–600
DIMENSIONS 9 5/16 x 8 1/16 x 3 15/16 in. (23.7 x 20.5 x 10 cm)  (show scale)
COLLECTIONS Arts of the Americas
ACCESSION NUMBER 45.175.3
CREDIT LINE Gift of Leo E. Fleischman
CATALOGUE DESCRIPTION Effigy vessel in the form of a human figure playing an ornate panpipe or antara, standing adjacent to a llama. The mouth of the vessel is located on the llama's back. Cream, white, red, orange and black slips embellish the surface. Condition: good; a top element of the headdress is missing.
MUSEUM LOCATION This item is not on view
CAPTION Recuay. Man and Llama Vessel, 200 B.C.E.–600. Ceramic, pigment, 9 5/16 x 8 1/16 x 3 15/16 in. (23.7 x 20.5 x 10 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Gift of Leo E. Fleischman, 45.175.3. Creative Commons-BY (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, 45.175.3_acetate_bw.jpg)
IMAGE overall, 45.175.3_acetate_bw.jpg. Brooklyn Museum photograph
"CUR" at the beginning of an image file name means that the image was created by a curatorial staff member. These study images may be digital point-and-shoot photographs, when we don\'t yet have high-quality studio photography, or they may be scans of older negatives, slides, or photographic prints, providing historical documentation of the object.
RIGHTS STATEMENT Creative Commons-BY
You may download and use Brooklyn Museum images of this three-dimensional work in accordance with a Creative Commons license. Fair use, as understood under the United States Copyright Act, may also apply. Please include caption information from this page and credit the Brooklyn Museum. If you need a high resolution file, please fill out our online application form (charges apply). For further information about copyright, we recommend resources at the United States Library of Congress, Cornell University, Copyright and Cultural Institutions: Guidelines for U.S. Libraries, Archives, and Museums, and Copyright Watch. For more information about the Museum's rights project, including how rights types are assigned, please see our blog posts on copyright. If you have any information regarding this work and rights to it, please contact copyright@brooklynmuseum.org.
RECORD COMPLETENESS
Not every record you will find here is complete. More information is available for some works than for others, and some entries have been updated more recently. Records are frequently reviewed and revised, and we welcome any additional information you might have.