Pre-Columbian Americas
Lambayeque Valley, Peru
Whistling Jar with Bridged Spout
A.D. 800–1200
Clay, slip
H. 9 in. (22.9 cm)
Raymond and Laura Wielgus Collection
Indiana University Art Museum, 75.99.3

As this jar shows, much pottery of Pre-Columbian northern Peru emphasizes sculptural form. This vessel is also a whistling jar; that is, when a person blows across the spout or when the vessel is partially filled with liquid and tilted, it makes a whistling sound, made possible by a mechanism within the vessel.