Much of Nazca art reflects that culture's preoccupation with agricultural fertility and abundance. This striking vessel, as vivid in color and as bold in line as a Picasso painting, apparently represents a farming deity. In one hand he holds a spade; in the other a spike for planting seeds and a pepino, a variety of cucumber. The wide, toothy smile seems to assure us of the god's benevolence. Such a figure is linked in spirit to the vegetation deities of other cultures: the Egyptian Osiris, the Greek Demeter, the Roman Priapus, and a thousand other gods around the world. His magic is ancient, powerful, timeless as earth itself.