Captivating Moche IV Bichrome Shaman Stirrup Vessel

Pre-Columbian, North Coast Peru, Moche, Phase IV, ca. 450 to 700 CE. A highly burnished figural pottery vessel depicting a seated shaman with an entranced gaze across its visage. The shaman features wide eyes, a robust protruding nose, and a slit-form mouth partially hidden behind a sizeable, spherical nose ring. Finely dressed, the figure wears a two-tone hooded garment with a linear motif expressed across its top and middle register. Seated in a somber trance with hands atop bended knees, this shaman is perhaps conducting a shamanic ritual based on the protruding, round-tipped horn from his forehead. A modest stirrup strap handle is present on obverse. A truly entrancing piece! Size: 8.5" L x 5" W x 9" H (21.6 cm x 12.7 cm x 22.9 cm)

This piece most likely features a portrait of an important member of Moche society. It is possible - even probable - that there are portraits of him as a young man on other vessels, as we know of several examples of Moche portrait vessels portraying the same individual at different stages of life! Vessels like this one were traded as emblems of authority around the Moche world before being buried as grave goods; others are also known from domestic contexts, and wear on examples found in graves indicates that they were used every day for cooking and drinking before being buried with the dead. Imagine a vessel like this one being used at a feast, displaying a relationship with the person depicted.

Provenance: ex-Ashland University Museum, Ashland, Ohio, USA

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#165454
Condition Report: Surface wear commensurate with age. Otherwise in excellent condition and fully intact. Amazingly preserved with incised details in exemplary form.