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Portrait head vessel

mh_2009_14_1_v5-cdm.jpg

Moche, Portrait head vessel
Photo Credit: 

Laura Shea   

mh_2009_14_1_v2-cdm.jpg

Moche, Portrait head vessel
Photo Credit: 

Laura Shea

mh_2009_14_1_v3-cdm.jpg

Moche, Portrait head vessel
Photo Credit: 

Laura Shea

mh_2009_14_1_v4-cdm.jpg

Moche, Portrait head vessel
Photo Credit: 

Laura Shea

Not On View
Unknown
Moche
Place made: 
South America; Peru; Moche Valley
Portrait head vessel, 200-500 CE
Earthenware; with polychrome pigments
Overall: 7 1/4 in x 7 1/4 in x 6 1/2 in; 18.4 cm x 18.4 cm x 16.5 cm
Gift of Sarah A. Nunneley (Class of 1963)
MH 2009.14.1

Moche portrait head vessels seem to portray individual members of society, rather than a generic category of person as defined by class or occupation like the West Mexican effigies on display nearby. This face with its distinctivescarred upper lip appears on some 40 other vessels, likely representing the same Moche elite from his youth through his adulthood.