**First Time At Auction**

Pre-Columbian, Peru, Moche, Phase V, ca. 600 to 750 CE. A beautiful, hand-built pottery stirrup vessel depicting a highly stylized and attractive portrait of a male, perhaps a warrior or a dignitary. Delineated with red-brown pigment atop a cream ground, the countenance presents with broad, almond-shaped eyes replete with thick brows and fine lashes, a prominent nose adorned with a cylindrical nose tube, thin lips with one corner curved into a slight smirk, and a pair of tall, flared ears. Scrawling across each cheek is a quartet of diagonal scarification marks, and his headdress is accentuated with a pair of tumi-shaped ornaments. A wide, stirrup-shaped handle projects upwards from atop the head and coalesces with a gradually tapering spout indicative of late Moche artistry. Size: 5.2" W x 10" H (13.2 cm x 25.4 cm)

This piece has been tested using thermoluminescence (TL) analysis and has been found to be ancient and of the period stated. A full report will accompany purchase.

Provenance: ex-Stein collection, Bloomfield Hills, Michigan, USA, acquired January 9, 2009; ex-Arte Xibalba, Osprey, Florida, USA; ex-Joseph Espinoza collection, Toronto, Ontario, Canada, imported from Brazil between 1980 and 1982

All items legal to buy/sell under U.S. Statute covering cultural patrimony Code 2600, CHAPTER 14, and are guaranteed to be as described or your money back.

A Certificate of Authenticity will accompany all winning bids.

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#163960

Repair to handle on top of head and proper right protrusion of nasal tube, with restoration along break lines, and resurfacing with overpainting along new material and break lines. Nicks, abrasions, and fading to original pigment, and light encrustations within some recessed areas. Nice craquelure to areas of original pigment. TL drill holes beneath base and behind proper left ear.