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Casas Grandes

Jar with Two Plumed or Horned Serpents with Birds and P-shaped Motifs

1280–1450
Ceramic and pigment
21.6 × 24.1 cm (8.5 × 9.5 in)

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In the collection of Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago · as of July 2026

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FROM THE ART INSTITUTE OF CHICAGO’S CATALOG

Zigzagging around the surface of this jar are two abstract serpents with plumes or horns emerging from their red heads, gaping mouths, and bodies filled with checkerboard patterns, triangles, concentric circles, and fine-line hatchings. Feathered or horned serpents were supernatural beings combining the attributes of snakes and birds. Serpents, able to move between the surface and interior of the earth, and birds that fly into the air were agents of communication between the human world, the tiers of the cosmos, and the sacred forces seen and experienced in the natural landscape.

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