Portrait Head Vessel
Unknown Artist
200–550 CE
Medium
earthenware with colored slips
Dimensions
30.5 × 28.9 × 25 cm
Classification
Ceramic
Department
Art of the Americas
Museum
Cleveland Museum of Art
Credit
Gift of Guerdon S. Holden
Accession Number
1930.627
About this artwork
The Moche were unique in ancient Peru in creating realistic human portraits, usually in the form of ceramic vessels. This large example may represent an important captive who, like some Moche prisoner figures, wears double earrings and a hank of hair over the forehead.