Pre-Columbian, North Coast Peru, Moche, ca. 100 to 700 CE. An intriguing example of a mold-formed brownware pottery vessel in the shape of an abstract zoomorphic creature, perhaps a feline similar to a jaguar. Highly burnished and presenting hues of chocolate, earth, and ochre, the feline creature bears a large head with bulging eyes, a snarling mouth, and a spiked mace head resting between two bulbous, curling ears. A myriad of iconographic relief forms appears across the body: the left side with 2 trumpets, a pan flute, a rattle, and an olla; the right side with a maize stalk and a boat paddle with a human-headed finial; and the front of the chest with textured gourds or ears of maize. Size: 8.625" L x 4.7" W x 7.1" H (21.9 cm x 11.9 cm x 18 cm)
Provenance: ex Ashland University Museum, Ashland, Ohio, USA, donated to Ashland University between July 1994 to December 1998
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#165943
Condition
Minor abrasions to base, spout, body, and head, with a couple of petite hairline fissures along peripheries of base, softening to some finer details, and some small spalls, otherwise intact and very good. Nice preservation to overall form and relief forms across exterior. Old inventory label beneath base.