1976.W.85 Falcon Vessel (Paracas)

The deserts of Peru’s Paracas peninsula, whose name means “sand falling like rain,” have preserved fragile objects deposited in cemeteries there some two thousand years ago. In the late 1920s, Peruvian archaeologists recovered more than 400 textile-wrapped funerary bundles from Paracas excavations, and ceramic vessels attributable to the Paracas culture have been found on the peninsula and in nearby valleys. The best-known Paracas pottery type is an incised vessel enhanced by the application of resin-based paint after firing. This example, with its beautifully preserved paint, is also characteristic in form: a rounded base and two spouts are joined by a flat strap or bridge, which functioned as a handle. The body of a bird spreads gracefully over the hemispheric chamber, while a modeled head forms the base of one spout. The chevron motif below each eye identifies the bird as a falcon, a frequent theme in Paracas art.

Excerpt from 

Bonnie Pitman, ed., "Vessel depicting a falcon (1976.W.85)," in Dallas Museum of Art: A Guide to the Collection (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2012), 24.

Until 1976: Nora and John Wise, New York

From 1976: Dallas Museum of Fine Arts, The Nora and John Wise Collection, gift of Mr. and Mrs. Jake L. Hamon, the Eugene McDermott Family, Mr. and Mrs. Algur H. Meadows and the Meadows Foundation, Incorporated, and Mr. and Mrs. John D. Murchison [1]

[1] The name of the Dallas Museum of Fine Arts, founded in 1933, was changed to the Dallas Museum of Art in 1983.

253363061: UMO. [Caption] Aplomado Falcon (Falco femoralis). Source: Elaine R. Wilson, Wikimedia Commons, accessed: April 27, 2015, http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Aplomado_Falcon_portrait.jpg#/media/File:Aplomado_Falcon_portrait.jpg.

The Metropolitan Museum of Art~Read more about birds in the Andes. 

Apply to objects where number equals 1976.W.85