The Brooklyn Museum Annual 1959-1960 [antikvár]

MOCHICA POTTERY % jane powell rosenthal no abohiginajl style — past oh present — can match the Strikingly realistic forms contained within the art of the ancient Mochica peoples of the Peruvian north coast. The Mochica modeled and painted a candid record of their culture in their ceremonial pottery. This art, which has given us some of the finest sculpture of the pre-Columbian Americas, vividly portrays an early preliterate society. In it we may glimpse many of the outward facets of daily life and perceive much of the thoughts and emotions common to these ancient people. The coast of Peru is a vast desert, broken occasionally by rivers flowing from the Andes to the sea which transform narrow stretches of this plain into fertile, habitable land. The Mochica were not the first to draw their livelihood from this harsh environment. Untold centuries before, primitive bands hunted and fished along the shores of the Pacific. Archaeology has traced their subsequent slow but remarkable evolution toward civilization, first as simple farmers, then as sophisticated townsfolk and expert craftsmen. The Mochica built and advanced their culture upon this heritage. By the beginning of our era, small, north coastal settlements had expanded into city-states, and Mochica warrior-priests governed a well-ordered society. Not only in the north but throughout Peru this epoch is aptly termed the Florescent or Classic Age, for the highest level of artistic quality and technical skill was reached. This great tradition was never surpassed in pre-Columbian times, for society turned aggressively instead to seek power and wealth. About a.d. 800, the Mochica State fell before the onslaught of imperial armies from the Andean highlands, whose conquest set the pattern in later centuries for the brilliant, militant, and final reign of the Inca princes. Tragically, the splendor of the Inca civilization was dimmed almost at once after the arrival of the Europeans. Even before, traces of the many pre-Incan peoples had disappeared, obliterated by war and conquest, the passage of time, and the covering desert. Only in recent decades have archaeological discoveries led to the reconstruction of the panorama of Central Andean prehistory, making it possible to identify and define the nature of the various societies within it. In this manner the Mochica have been most vividly brought to life. Their art, unearthed in cemeteries and temple ruins, reveals their culture in almost every detail. Its forms and iconography mirror the philosophical concepts and myths which structured this society from within and the social patterns and political powers which gave direction and cohesiveness from without.