**Originally Listed At $800**

Pre-Columbian, North Coast Peru, Moche Culture, Phase IV, ca. 500 to 700 CE. A fascinating vessel depicting the hero deity, Ai Apaec, the chief deity of the Moche (Mochica) culture wrestling an anthropomorphic crab being! Ai Apaec is identifiable by the feline fangs extending from his mouth, and a flared headdress with a jaguar head – he also sits astride the vessel in triumph, holding the claws of the creature behind its back, as if he grappled the monstrous crab to defeat and submission. Ai Apaec's role in Moche culture is very similar to the Greco-Roman Hercules; Traveling on mythic quests, including the underworld and the ocean, where he confronts legendary beings- including a "marine demon" -as we see here! Size: 7.5" L x 4.5" W x 9.25" H (19 cm x 11.4 cm x 23.5 cm)

Ai Apaec is the primary Moche deity of creation, food, water, military victory and the most feared but respected of the wrathful gods- and sometimes referred to as the headsman or decapitator god! His iconography varies, but his ferocious nature was often depicted as a combination of human, aquatic, spider, and jaguar traits -evoking the powers he has earned through his many heroic quests. Scholars posit that during human sacrifices, when prisoners were decapitated, their heads were presented as offerings to Ai Apaec.

Provenance: private New York, New York, USA collection; ex-T.W. collection, acquired from a gentleman's lifetime collection, Charlotte, North Carolina, USA, acquired in the 1980s - 1990s

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#175709

Surface abrasions and nicks, otherwise intact and excellent condition. Old inventory labels on base and cork pads added for stability.