Moche Vessel from Max Uhle Collections

Description

The Moche Skeletal Potato Bottle from the pre-Inca Moche civilization (ca. 250–850 CE) possesses a bizarre appearance that arrests the attention of the foreign observer. The widened eyes and rounded configurations that form the iris are echoed on the upward-cut nose and in the suggestion of a pointed tongue that peaks from its gaping toothed mouth. These circular shapes form an inverted triangle, opposing the triangle formation of the nose and repeatedly occur on the top, sides and back of the head. The copiously decorated surface is painted in fine-line style characteristic of Moche ceramics, and the careful arrangement of designs presents a bilateral symmetry. The most intriguing pattern independent of its expressionistic features is a geometric border that wraps around the curvature of the forehead. The bottom boarder of the bottle, might represent a sequence of larvae transitioning into flying insects depicted on the skeletal head.