Producer unknown to us
Container
Americas, Ecuador, Carchi Province, El Ángel
Prior to 1904
Clay, baked, incised
Hans Meyer
Donation to the museum by Meyer in 1904
SAm 11254
This vessel made from light clay is shaped like a parrot lying on its back. It comes from the Nariño/Carchi civilization, which lived in the Andean regions of Ecuador and Colombia between the 5th and 15th century AD. Most likely, this vessel is either a ritual or a funerary object. According to Meyer’s manuscripts, it was found in the area around El Ángel in northern Ecuador. Hans Meyer acquired the vessel in 1903 from a local collector in Ecuador’s capital, Quito, while on a glaciological research expedition to the country’s Andean plains. Meyer did not provide the collector’s name in his manuscripts. After his return, he donated the vessel and 150 other archaeological finds and contemporary items to the museum in 1907.
Dietmar Grundmann