Moche
Double chambered bottle
Moche, 2001
Physical Qualities
Earthenware, slip, 6 11/16 × 6 1/8 × 8 1/16 in. (17 × 15.5 × 20.5 cm.)
Credit Line
Gift of the Austen-Stokes Ancient Americas Foundation, Upper Nyack, New York
Object Number
2005.31
Conjoined shells form the chambers of a stirrup-spout bottle. One chamber represents the bivalve Spondylus. It has been painted reddish-brown. Small protuberances on the upper half of the chamber are indicative of the spines typical of this marine shell. The bivalve is attached at its base, to a cream-painted conch, or Strombus. Half of the vessel handle appears cream-colored; the other half has been painted red. The conjoined shells were mold made, as was the stirrup spout that was attached at firing.
The Baltimore Museum of Art by gift, 2005; Austen-Stokes Ancient Americas Foundation; Formerly part of a "private Pacific collection." Purchased from Howard Rose Galleries, NY, November 2004 by the donor.
Darienne Turner, Baltimore Museum of Art, Ancient Americas Gallery Rotations, December 12, 2021.
On View: Ancient Americas
