Pre-Columbian, Northern Peru, Moche Valley, Salinar / Moche transition, ca. 100 BCE to 100 CE. A striking bichrome red and kaolin slipped portrait stirrup vessel created during the transitional period between the Salinar and the newly-emerging Moche cultures. The ancient Andean worldview was that of a hierarchy, a very ordered place where everyone understood his/her role in society. Here we have the noble visage of an important lord or shaman, presenting a calm almost solemn expression with well-delineated features (almond-shaped eyes, a straight protruding nose, cup-shaped ears, and slightly parted lips) adorned with an elaborately detailed headband (or helmet with chin strap) and face paint/tattoos, so iconographically rich with abstract frontal human visages, anamorphic creatures, stylized geometric and wave motifs. The relatively naturalistically rendered face and the intricately delineated facial tattooing/painting and headband are clearly the creative work of a skilled artist. Size: 4.875" W x 7.875" H (12.4 cm x 20 cm)

Provenance: Ex-private Thousand Oaks, CA collection

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#118419

Spout reattached to stirrup. Surface wear with some abraded areas and pigment losses.