Portrait Vessel

This is a ceramic vessel shaped as the head of a man. It is about thirty-five centimeters tall, roughly the height of a large vase. It was made by a Moche artist on the north coast of Peru, and it dates to between 600 and 700. The clay is earthenware, painted with mineral slips, which are thin liquid clay mixtures colored with minerals. Red is the color that stands out. The face looks straight out at you with a commanding expression and a proud bearing. He is a ruler, and this is a portrait of one particular person.

Start with the face. Across the forehead, find the furrowed brow. Then look just below the nose for the full upper lip, which pushes out slightly. These are features of one individual. Next, move up to the headdress on top. Its geometric patterns come from Moche textiles. Then look at each side of the head, where the ear ornaments hang long and stretched. Last, search the forehead and cheeks for faint traces of facial paint, which are easy to miss at first.

The name of the artist is not known. The vessel comes from the Southern Moche region of Peru's north coast. Moche potters shaped such vessels in molds, without a potter's wheel, which is the spinning turntable many potters use. They then painted them in earth tones. The Moche were remarkable for their sculptural naturalism, meaning they made figures that look lifelike. Their potters showed everything in their world: homes, buildings, rituals, royal figures, animals and plants. This vessel is one of those portraits of a royal person.

The headdress, ear ornaments and face paint all signal that this man held high status. The vessel gives a lasting sense of the power of Moche leaders. Vessels like this were placed in burials as funerary offerings, gifts that went with a person to the grave. Before that, they may have been sent from a center of power to neighboring districts, together with textiles and other ceremonial presents, as emblems of royal authority. Look once more at the brow and the mouth, and think of how a single face could stand in for a ruler.