Pre-Columbian, north coast Peru, Moche, Phase IV, ca. 550 to 700 CE. A skillfully executed, hand-built pottery stirrup vessel portraying a seated shaman with knees drawn up to his chest and wearing a cream and red vestment covered with a russet-hued cape knotted in the front. The figure holds both hands atop his knees and partially covers part of the concentric rectangular motif accentuating his garment. Discoid earrings bearing a broad, target-style design embellish his tall ears and frame the heavy-lidded eyes, aquiline nose, pursed lips, and shallow nasolabial folds constituting his pensive visage. Atop his head is an eccentric headdress with the forelegs and head of a long-fanged jaguar, and a strap handle arches over top to a mushroom-shaped protrusion along the verso. The vessel is completed with a stirrup-shaped handle and a cylindrical spout emanating from the top to make this as functional as it is entrancing! Size: 4.875" W x 9.2" H (12.4 cm x 23.4 cm)

Cf. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, accession number 64.228.41

Provenance: ex-Barakat Gallery, Beverly Hills, California, USA, acquired prior to 2000

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#164623

Restoration to top portion of spout as well as the majority of mushroom-shaped protrusion atop headdress, with resurfacing and overpainting along new material and break lines. Minor abrasions and pitting in scattered areas, with touch-up paint near areas of restoration, and light encrustations within some recessed areas. Fantastic preservation to overall form and original pigment throughout.