Rounded Jar Depicting Abstract Fish or Sharks

Museum collection

Museum work by Nasca

Art Institute of Chicago

Thread 81977

Spiritual Elevation

Where the original lives

Art Institute of Chicago

The original is held by the Art Institute of Chicago and is not for sale. This piece is shown for reference — no edition of it is offered.

See the work in the Art Institute of Chicago collection

Curator’s note

Nasca (180 BCE–500 CE) from Peru. Held in the collection of the Art Institute of Chicago and released into the public domain, offered here as a museum-quality edition within the spiritual thread.

Details

Artist: Nazca
Date: 180 BCE–500 CE
Medium: Ceramic and pigment
Dimensions: 17.2 × 20 cm · 6.8 × 7.9 in
Origin: Peru
Collection: S. B. Williams Fund and Edward E. Ayer Endowment in memory of Charles L. Hutchinson

Placing a spiritual elevation work

Devotional images, mandalas, temple architecture, pilgrimage — work made to be looked at for a long time rather than glanced at. This thread asks the most of its placement: a wall of its own, light that changes through the day, and nothing competing beside it.

Direction: North-east — the quarter reserved for the sacred
Rooms: Prayer rooms · Meditation spaces · Quiet corners · Entrance thresholds

See the whole thread

Provenance & rights

Source collection: Art Institute of Chicago. S. B. Williams Fund and Edward E. Ayer Endowment in memory of Charles L. Hutchinson. Public domain (CC0). Shown here for reference, with full attribution to the artist and holding institution. No edition of this work is offered.