The Moche civilisation once dominated the norther Peruvian coastline, rising to power after the demis of the Pan-Andean Chavin culture. The area in questio is extremely hot and dry: however, the Moche (als known as the Mochica) undertook a process o canalisation, damming and flooding rivers in order t create a highly productive and localised socioeconomi entity. Elites and social structures appeared, as di a highly complex (not to mention sanguineous) religious structure, directly linked to th administration. Craft specialisation was an inevitabl product of this process: pottery, metalwork an painting all thrived, supplying the elites an religious orders with works of unparalleled beauty.
Indeed, it has been claimed that the quality of thes works have never been surpassed in the Americas, whil the quality of the ceramics is doubtless one of th finest in the whole of the ancient world. These hav served as valuable social documents as well a stunning works of art, for the scenes painted upo them from the mundane to the erotic, the ritual t the domestic are the only direct evidence we have o the lifestyles of these pre-literate peoples.
This piece is an admirable demonstration of the skil of the ceramicist and the painter. Formed in a moul and finished by hand, the vessel is formed into stirrup format that is to say, a main body with a attached loop-and-spout handle. These had n utilitarian function, and were manufacture specifically for inclusion in graves. The body i drum-shaped and rounded, with a flat base. This is a unusually ornate example the upper aspect of th vessels junction with the handle is surmounted by th head of a snarling feline, probably a jaguar, wit open mouth and large, rounded ears. The ground of th vessel is painted a creamy yellow in colour, with th details of the jaguar picked out in lines and spots o terra-cotta red. Smaller details are picked out i dark brown. The dorsal aspect of the vessel is painte in checks of cream/yellow and red, with sun motif decorating the former. The sides of the vessel ar decorated with dark brown images of the decapitato god, a crocodilian-headed deity that regularly appear on the walls of the Huaca de la Luna and the Huaca de Brujo, wielding a decapitation axe and the head of vanquished opponent. This grisly ceremony was onc thought to be fanciful, but gained some archaeologica substantiation in the 1990s with the discovery o numerous mutilated, clubbed, beaten and decapitate young males at the apex of the Huaca de la Luna, nea modern-day Trujillo. Many other similar cases hav since come to light. It would appear that this was th fate of most captives in Moche hands: stable isotop evidence has determined that these unfortunat individuals were all alien to the Moche territory,
therefore suggesting that they were invaders fro another sociopolitical entity. The power of spectacl was not lost on the Moche, as judged from numerou ceramic scenes depicting public executions. As polity run by warrior elites, it is likely that th populace viewed violence both with reverence, and as fact of everyday life.