2018.107.1

Collection type

Object

Description

Ceramic pucará figure of a bull. [JMC 13/7/2018]

Long description

Ceramic pucará figure of a bull. The main body of the bull is hollow, with an exaggerated hump at the back of the neck, and a large, circular opening at the top of the rump, next to which is a looped handle. The four solid legs are straight and cylindrical. The other features of the bull have been hand-modelled: these include the curving horns, the tail, which curves back on the rump, and the head and ears, with impressed circles for the eyes and carved out nostrils and mouth. Three pairs of decorative rings ornament the front of the bull’s neck, running from the chin downwards, and two raised bands of ridges decorate the hump. A small ceramic rosette has been applied to the bull’s forehead, and a decorative ridged band to the top of the horns. The legs and underside of the bull retain the natural terracotta colour, while the rest has been painted white. The head, horns, tail, and decorative elements have been covered in a green glaze and the body is decorated with large bands of green glaze and wavy lines and spirals in red paint. The hooves and tail end have been painted black. [JMC 13/7/2018]

Geographical reference

Peru

Latin America and the Caribbean > South America > Peru

Puno Department

Cultural groups

Quechua

Person

Field collector Sandra Hunt

PRM source Sandra Hunt

Date / Period

Date made: Before 1964

Date collected

1962 - 1964

Acquisition information

Donated: 27/06/2018

Materials and processes

Material Pottery, Material Pigment, Process Fire-Hardened, Process Glazed, Process Painted, Process Modelled, Process Impressed

Dimensions

Height: max 197 mm, Width: max 89 mm, Length: max 230 mm

Object numbers

Accession number: 2018.107.1

Research and responses

There is a photograph of a similar pucará bull on p.74 of the Peruvian Official Tourist Bureau brochure (see RDF). The accompanying text reads "Post-Hispanic pottery has produced forms universally admired, all of which have Western European themes, such as the so-called Pucará bull and the Ayacucho churches. These two examples fulfil religious functions, the first native and the second Indo-Hispanic. The bull superseded a god called Amaru (serpent) who lived in the waters at the center of the earth. Legends today still tell of this god, but it is said that he has the form of a bull and not a serpent, as he used to be imagined until quite recent times. The ceramic bull serves as an offering to the gods of the mountains and also guards and protects the crosses which are placed on the roofs." p.75-6. [JMC 13/7/2018]

Search terms: Figure, Vessel, Animal Figure