Portrait Vessel
600–700 CE
Medium
Earthenware and mineral slips
Dimensions
35.6 × 24.1 cm (14 × 9 1/2 in.)
Classification
ceramics
Department
Arts of the Americas
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Accession Number
91620
Rights
Public Domain
About this artwork
Among the most distinctive art objects of the ancient Peruvians were ceramic vessels produced by the artists of the Moche culture, which flourished on the north coast between about 100 BC and AD 500. Remarkable for their sculptural naturalism, these stirrup-spout bottles were molded without the aid of a potter’s wheel and painted in earth tones. Moche potters represented everything about their world, from domestic scenes to architecture, ritual events and royal personages, and animals and plants...
About the Artist
Moche
The Moche artists flourished between approximately 100 and 800 CE along the northern coast of Peru, in valleys such as Moche, Chicama, and Virú, creating a profound body of work in ceramics, metalwork, and monumental architecture that defined their stratified society. Centered around sites like Huaca del Sol and Huaca de la Luna near modern Trujillo, these anonymous artisans operated in specialize...