Unknown Artist
Music played a vital role in ancient Peruvian life, and numerous instruments—whistles, trumpets, drums, and flutes—survive from the region’s earliest cultures. This small whistle (an ocarina in Spanish) belongs to a group of similar objects made by artists of the Cupisnique culture on Peru’s North Coast between 1200 and 500 BCE. It depicts a figure with hands raised to their mouth, as if shouting or calling out, while a child sits atop the person’s shoulders.
Said to come from the site of Tembladera in the Jequetepeque Valley, these whistles share distinctive features: incised lines for mouths, facial decorations, pupils, and finger spaces. This example has round eyes impressed with a reed or similar tool, with a hole forming the pupil. Traces of white and red pigments—applied after the firing—remain in some of the carved lines. Their style and construction closely resemble those of larger ceramics, also attributed to Tembladera, that portray musicians, seated women, standing figures, and embracing couples.
Each whistle in the group has a large opening at the back for blowing, along with four smaller side holes. By covering or uncovering these side holes with their fingertips, musicians could modulate the pitch. The use of whistles for festivals or ceremonial events continued on both the north and south coasts of Peru as later cultures developed. Beyond whistles, potters and metalsmiths eventually crafted whistling vessels—bottles and containers that sounded when filled with liquid.
We found this amazing whistle by accident ... it was included on a "Page not found" page on the MET website! It is a perfect visual to accompany the error page!
P.S. Peruvian art is full of absolute gems, Take a look at this fascinating Shipibo pottery from the Peruvian Amazon!