Object Name: Jar

Artist: Unknown

Culture: Moche

Place of Origin: Peru, north coast

Date/Era: 100 – 800 C.E.

Medium/Materials: Ceramic

Dimensions: H: 26.5 cm, W: 18.8 cm, D: 19.9 cm (H: 10.4 in, W: 7.4 in, D: 7.8 in)

Credit Line: Fowler Museum at UCLA. Gift of Helen and Dr. Robert Kuhn in honor of Dr. Christopher Donnan.

Accession Number: X91.145

Moche vessels are unsurpassed for their artistic realism and provide excellent documentation of the people who produced them, their material culture, environment, activities, and beliefs in a supernatural realm. Moche ceramics depict a variety of subjects, ranging from ritual battle scenes and flora and fauna to carefully rendered portraits like the one shown here.

Source: Gallery text, Intersections: World Arts, Local Lives, 2006.

See also: Marla C. Berns, World Arts, Local Lives: The Collections of the Fowler Museum at UCLA. Fowler Museum, Los Angeles, 2014.