Description:

Pre-Columbian, North Coast Peru, Moche III to IV, ca. 400 to 600 CE. A bichrome red on cream pottery stirrup vessel depicting a jaguar with a highly-burnished coat and looking deceptively playful (given the wild feline's potential for ferocious acts) while innocently resting upon its haunches with an endearing countenance. The face displays bulging ovoid eyes, a straight bar-shaped snout, puffy jowls, a downturned mouth, and two prominent semi-circular ears painted in red. A large spout stems upwards from behind the head and on top of the hind quarters, a cylindrical spout with a thin rim emerging from the center. Size: 8.5" H (21.6 cm).

The jaguar symbolized power and might throughout the Pre-Columbian world. Warriors, rulers, hunters, and shamans alike associated themselves with this king of beasts, the largest and most powerful feline in the New World. The principal Moche god wears a headdress adorned with a jaguar head and paws and important mortals donned similar headdresses. A nocturnal animal, the jaguar sleeps in caves and dark places and creeps quietly in the forest, evoking great mystery. Oddly enough, few Moche artists would have actually scene jaguars as they are not indigenous to the coast. Jaguars prefer moist forest conditions. However, scholars believe that some cubs were transported over the mountains for Moche rituals, and it is also possible that some jaguars wandered down the coast.

Provenance: private Pasadena, California, USA collection

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#128404

  • Condition: Surface wear commensurate with age, minor losses and pitting to spout and ears, and minor stable crack underneath one ear. An old collection sticker with "T-EX Peru" and a circled "9" are visible on the underside.

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November 21, 2017 7:00 AM MST
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Artemis Fine Arts

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