Portrait Head Vessel (c. 200–550 CE): Art, History and Details

Portrait Head Vessel (c. 200–550 CE) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection.

The work and its context

The museum's open-access catalogue describes the work:

The Moche were unique in ancient Peru in creating realistic human portraits, usually in the form of ceramic vessels. In general, such vessels represent more than 750 individuals; identities are unclear but most are elite men, some probably rulers. The stirrup-shaped spout is a hallmark of Moche ceramic production.

Object facts

• Title: Portrait Head Vessel
• Date: c. 200–550 CE
• Culture: Peru, North Coast, Moche style
• Type: Sculpture
• Technique: earthenware with colored slips
• Dimensions: Overall: 32 x 18.6 x 19.3 cm (12 5/8 x 7 5/16 x 7 5/8 in.)
• Collection: AA - Andes
• Department: Art of the Americas
• Accession number: 1990.227

Collection credit

Gift of Mr. and Mrs. James C. Gruener

Further reading listed by the museum

• Young-Sánchez, Margaret. "The Gruener Collection of Pre-Columbian Art." The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 79, no. 7 (1992): 234-75.

View the collection record

See the museum's photographs and full catalogue entry. Catalogue text is reproduced from the Cleveland Museum of Art's open-access data, with HTML formatting removed. This object and its supplied image are designated CC0.