Lot 220D
Pre-Columbian, north coast of Peru, Moche V, 600 to 800 CE. A classic Moche form, a stirrup vessel, with a long, thin, cylindrical spout and equally elongated and thin sides of the stirrup handle above an apple-shaped body that sits on a flat base. The spout and handle are painted with a red on beige motif of what looks like the steps of pyramids. The body is painted in the fineline style with a series of seemingly disconnected images - animals, two warriors holding weapons and wearing elaborate headdresses, and cacti-like plants. Scattered around the image are ulluchu fruit, comma shaped and painted to have a grooved texture, which were probably used by the Moche during sacrifices to make it easier to extract blood from human sacrifices. Some of the animals, most of whom appear to be deer, bear wounds, as if they have been hunted, while others roam free. Size: 5.45" W x 11.45" H (13.8 cm x 29.1 cm)
Moche V was a time period of social unrest, with radical changes and shifting urban centers, but it is not clear what caused it - some environmental calamity? A plague? Bad leadership, invasion, some other political explanation? The iconography of the vessel perhaps reflects that shift - the human figures are more abstract, with distorted noses and mouths, than they would have been in Phases III and IV. This seems to have been a deliberate choice by the artist, perhaps mirroring the newly chaotic world he or she now inhabited.
Provenance: private Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, USA collection acquired before 1995
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#124766
- Condition: Repaired/restored on lower part of body, but repairs are well done and almost impossible to see. Artwork is in excellent condition. Old accession stamp on the base that is almost entirely faded.
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