The Nasca thrived on the South Coast between AD 1 and 800, and this piece dates from late in their ceramic tradition. During these late phases many Nasca ceramics show an interest in the patterns of other Central Andean peoples, such as the Wari. It is not clear whether this openness to new ideas in ceramics was forced -the Wari were an expansionist state that ultimately incorporated the Nasca area-or not, since the Moche were on the wane in the North Coast at this time as well.
Even while allowing other styles to influence their own, the Nasca kept their characteristic palette of colors, a bright red, orange, cream, and an unusual gray, all surrounded by a strong black outline. But they explored new subject matter, such as a typically Wari rectilinear monkey motif with the diagnostic Wari foot (white square toenails and a circle for the heel).
While, in general, creativity implies an openness to new and interesting designs, colors, shapes, and techniques from elsewhere, most traditions explore their particular subject matter to the near exclusion of other people's. Here a strong and vital tradition, perhaps in the process of breaking down after hundreds of years of success, patently explores others' aesthetics. While this may be largely an artistic process meant to reinvigorate a long-established style of ceramic art, it may also indicate a new political reality-that the South Coast was no longer an independent entity.
Even while allowing other styles to influence their own, the Nasca kept their characteristic palette of colors, a bright red, orange, cream, and an unusual gray, all surrounded by a strong black outline. But they explored new subject matter, such as a typically Wari rectilinear monkey motif with the diagnostic Wari foot (white square toenails and a circle for the heel).
While, in general, creativity implies an openness to new and interesting designs, colors, shapes, and techniques from elsewhere, most traditions explore their particular subject matter to the near exclusion of other people's. Here a strong and vital tradition, perhaps in the process of breaking down after hundreds of years of success, patently explores others' aesthetics. While this may be largely an artistic process meant to reinvigorate a long-established style of ceramic art, it may also indicate a new political reality-that the South Coast was no longer an independent entity.