CategoriesCultural and Religious Styles
Moche Art
Art of the Moche of Peru's north coast, c. AD 100–800: portrait vessels, fineline painted ceramics, gold and adobe temple platforms.
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About
The Moche flourished on the arid north coast of Peru from about AD 100 to 800, in irrigated river valleys ruled by warrior elites. Their potters were exceptionally inventive. Many vessels are stirrup-spout bottles, made in moulds so forms could be repeated, and they take the shape of animals, plants, houses, warriors and people with illnesses. Portrait head vessels show individual faces with such character that the same man can sometimes be recognised at different ages. Other bottles, painted red on cream in fine line, unroll complex scenes of combat, capture and a ceremony in which captives' blood is presented to high-ranking figures.
Metalworkers made ear ornaments of gold and turquoise and gilded copper by chemical plating. In 1987 archaeologists opened the unlooted tomb of a ruler at Sipán, now known as the Lord of Sipán. Huge adobe platforms, such as the Huaca de la Luna, were painted with friezes of a fanged deity.
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