this “sculpted bottle”
made during the Cupisnique (Formative Period 1250 BC – 1 AD)
depicts a “beheaded man”. It is not very often that the compliance
of plasticity transforms the neck of a bottle into its principal focus
point. In this case, an inverted human head, shows its lips as a
integral part of the bottle. The characteristics of this piece, such
as the straight yet slightly divergent walls, length of neck, delicately
incised motives and the gradually fading reddish tonality, create
an impacting visual effect. A very finely rendered abstraction and
synthesis of ritual elements, invested with a great dramatic quality
that exerts a great attraction upon the observer.