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Symbolism and Ceremony:
Ritual Vessels from the University Gallery Collection

January 25 - March 24, 2000
The University Gallery has been the recipient of many generous donations of Pre-Columbian art and artifacts since 1954. Over the years, significant ceramic vessels have come into the collection and are used for instruction and exhibition purposes. Donors include Mr. William C. Lickle, Wilmington, DE (1978, 1980) and Mr. Curtis G. Newnum, Fort Lauderdale, FL (1995), and given as bequests are the collections of Miss Jane Maxwell (1954) and Miss Josephine Foard (1978). These gifts encompass regions extending from southwestern North America, Central America, and South America. This exhibition focuses on Peruvian ceramics because the forms of the selected vessels celebrate the sacredness of nature and the cultures' reverence toward it. Thus the viewer is allowed to better comprehend symbolic themes and gain knowledge of ritual and everyday life by concentrating on a smaller cross section of Pre-Columbian ceramics. The vessels in some cases document a slow evolution from hunter-gatherer societies into agricultural communities. In other cases, the motifs and forms identify a time, place, or specific cultural group.
Ranging in date from BCE 1200 to AD 1000, the vessels on display are depictions of warriors, priests, and ceremonial icons unique to each society from the western coastal regions and highlands of Peru. The ceramics were often utilitarian, but also conveyed ideas in the forms of naturalistic images, geometric symbols, and compound creatures. Most were coil built or formed in molds, as wheel throwing technology had not yet been introduced. Cultures represented in this exhibition include: Chavín and Recuay from the northern Peruvian highlands; Chimú, Moche, and Vicús from north central and coastal Peru; and Nazca from the southern Peruvian coast. Objects in this exhibition utilize sophisticated firing and coloration techniques. The ceramics have a wide range of utility from household use to portraiture. Others commemorate warriors, priests, plants, animals, and incorporate other ritual functions.
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Assistance to the exhibition was provided by the 1999-2000 Undergraduate Curatorial Apprentices: Duncan Carr, Trumbull Holyoke, Allyson Morse, Jill Ondercin, June Reames, Lauren Shuster, and Jennifer Van Horn.
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