**Originally Listed At $1250**

Pre-Columbian, North Coast Peru, Moche I, ca. 100 to 200 CE. A figural stirrup vessel in the form of a conical-headdressed warrior. The warrior is kneeling, and wears a skirt decorated in red curvilinear details as well as a tunic with red spiralized motifs atop a cream ground. He wields a shield on one forearm, with a decorative program of concentric squares, and his other hand is slightly open, suggesting a separate weapon was held here at one point. His visage exhibits a fierce expression, with coffee-bean-shaped eyes, a bulbous nose, and a tight-lipped mouth, with large bullseye-form earspools covering the majority of his ears. The stirrup handle projects from the back of the figure, and the flared-rim cylindrical spout rises from the top arc. Size: 7.375" H (18.7 cm).

Warfare and warriors are recurrent themes in Moche art, a strong testimony to the violence of Moche society, which was riven by intense inter-rivalry competition. There was a ritual element to Moche warfare too: prisoners had to be captured to make sacrifices to the gods. This figure seems to be an ordinary warrior rather than a lord, as the latter are usually depicted wearing domed helmets.

Provenance: private Hawaii, USA collection; ex-Splendors of the World, Haiku, Hawaii, USA

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#129690

Resurfacing and overpainting to areas of base and near genitalia. Age-commensurate surface wear, and small chips to head, arm, base, and spout. Light fading to surface pigmentation. Light earthen deposits within recessed areas, and nice mineral deposits throughout.