Bottle decorated with painted chevrons and winged felines

This bottle has been painted with the mythical figure of a winged four-legged creature, a recurring image in the Atarco style. This is a spotted feline with wings and a bird’s tail. The figure is characterized by carrying a trophy-head in its front extremity, which becomes a human hand with a sharp claw for a thumb. Its eye is slit, typical of winged supernatural beings or “angels” in Tiahuanaco and Huari art, a feature that highlights the halo of the figure and its possible Altiplano source. Behind its body there are two floating spheres with a dot in the middle, probably eyeballs detached from a decapitated head. The bands are composed by chevrons or “V” shaped designs at the neck and shoulders of the bottle, and seem to evoke bird feathers. The form of representing this decorative element is emblematic of the styles related to the Huari stylistic canons. Its presence in the northern lands of Jequetepeque could be due to the importation of vessels, both from the Atarco style from Nasca, and from the Chakipampa and Viñaque styles from Ayacucho. (KM)