Skip to main content
Portrait head bottle - Image 1
Portrait head bottle - Image 2
Portrait head bottle - Image 3
Portrait head bottle - Image 4
Portrait head bottle - Image 5
Portrait head bottle - Image 6
Public Domain

Moche

Portrait head bottle

Moche, 300

Thumbnail 1
Thumbnail 2
Thumbnail 3
Thumbnail 4
Thumbnail 5
Thumbnail 6
Scroll

Moche

Portrait head bottle

Moche, 300

Physical Qualities Earthenware, polychrome, 9 1/16 × 5 1/8 in. (23 × 13 cm.)
Credit Line Gift of Mrs. J. Lee Tailer
Object Number 1934.63.1
Portrait of leader in the form of a stirrup-spout bottle. This example shows a middle aged individual who wears a Type B head cloth painted in red on cream with a diamond-shaped design on the crown of the head. The ear is hidden beneath the head cloth but a tubular ear ornament is shown, bearing a trapezoidal shaped bangle. Organic black pigment covers the eyes in a horizontal band, and at the edges of the mouth. The same pigment is used to create a zig-zag shaped necklace below the chin. The eyes have been painted with a cream slip paint. A hole at the nostril indicates the nose would have been ornamented (pierced). Laugh lines have been etched into the lower cheeks.
The Baltimore Museum of Art by gift, 1934; Mrs. J. Lee Tailer ??
The Baltimore Museum of Art, "Myths of Ancient Peru," October 7, 1969 to November 30, 1969, Circulated to Tennessee Fine Arts Center, Nashville, Tennessee; Loch Haven Art Center, Orlando, Forida; Jacksonville Art Museum, Jacksonville, Florida; Isaac Delgado Museum, New Orleans, Louisiana; Birmingham Art Museum, Birmingham, Alabama; Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Richmond, Virginia; and Mint Museum of Art, Charlotte, North Carolina.
"Myths of Ancient Peru," Baltimore: The Baltimore Museum of Art, 1969, cat. no. 23.
H. Doering, "The Art of Old Peru." London: Ernest Benn Ltd., 1924. Page 55.

Markings: spout broken

Explore the Collection Further

Moche
Portrait head bottle
300
Thomas Worlidge
Portrait Head of an Old Man with Long Curly Wig
1719
Moche
Double chambered bottle
2001
William Gale
Portrait Head of an Old Man
1842
Clément-Auguste Andrieux
Sketches: Soldier, Man with Cane, Portrait Head
1848
Moche
Painted bottle
100
Clément-Auguste Andrieux
Sketches: Schoolmaster, Fruit Vendor, Portrait Heads
1848
Philip Zilcken
Portrait Study of a Young Girl's Head
1876