Casas Grandes, Ramos Polychrome
New Mexico, United States, or Chihuahua, Mexico
Jar with Two Plumed or Horned Serpents with Birds and P-shaped Motifs
INV-1875
Casas Grandes, Ramos Polychrome
New Mexico, United States, or Chihuahua, Mexico1280–1450
Jar with Two Plumed or Horned Serpents with Birds and P-shaped Motifs
Casas Grandes, Ramos Polychrome New Mexico, United States, or Chihuahua, Mexico →casas grandessouthwestamericasnative americanvesselceramics
Date
1280–1450
Medium
Ceramic and pigment
Dimensions
21.6 × 24.1 cm (8 1/2 × 9 1/2 in.)
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Location
Chicago, IL
Credit
Gift of Edward and Betty Harris
Zigzagging around the surface of this jar are two abstract serpents with plumes or horns emerging from their red heads, gaping mouths, and bodies filled with checkerboard patterns, triangles, concentric circles, and fine-line hatchings. Feathered or horned serpents were supernatural beings combining the attributes of snakes and birds. Serpents, able to move between the surface and interior of the earth, and birds that fly into the air were agents of communication between the human world, the tiers of the cosmos, and the sacred forces seen and experienced in the natural landscape.
Also notable
Works in the same vein
Jar with Diamond-Shaped Frames with Abstract Birds and Coiling Motifs (Ramos Polychrome)
Ceramist unknown (Casas Grandes) New Mexico, United States, or Chihuahua, Mexico
Hooded Effigy Vessel (possibly representing Ehecatl)
Ceramist unknown (Casas Grandes) New Mexico, United States, or Chihuahua, Mexico
Ramos Polychrome vessel
Ceramist unknown (Casas Grandes) New Mexico, United States, or Chihuahua, Mexico
