A blackware pottery anthropomorphic vessel having a stirrup type spout, depicting a seated man holding a deer over his back, hands holding the deer's hooves.
 
Excellent condition; complete and intact. Overall scattered surface deposits.
Height 20.4 cms (8 ins).
 
Pre-Columbian Peru: Moche culture V: Circa 500-800 AD.
 
Provenance: Ex. Jack Bregman collection, NYC. Acquired prior to 1969 while in the Peace Corps. By descent to current owner. Collection # 198.
 
Moche blackware is rarer than the more abundant redware and is often associated with elite or ceremonial contexts, such as burials of high-status individuals.
 
As a culture, Moche were contemporary with the Nazca civilization further down the coast but, thanks to their conquest of surrounding territories, they were able to accumulate the wealth and power necessary to establish themselves as one of the most unique and important early-Andean cultures. The Moche also expressed themselves in art with such a high degree of aesthetics that their naturalistic and vibrant murals, ceramics, and metalwork are amongst the most highly regarded in the Americas.