Moche Composite Frog-Crab Effigy Stirrup-Spout Vessel
Moche Composite Frog-Crab Effigy Stirrup-Spout Vessel
Moche Composite Frog-Crab Effigy Stirrup-Spout Vessel
Moche Composite Frog-Crab Effigy Stirrup-Spout Vessel
Moche Composite Frog-Crab Effigy Stirrup-Spout Vessel
Moche Composite Frog-Crab Effigy Stirrup-Spout Vessel

Moche Composite Frog-Crab Effigy Stirrup-Spout Vessel

17646

Regular price$1,750
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Early Intermediate Period, Moche Phase IV–V, circa 500–800 AD

modeled in buff earthenware with a cream slip ground and dark red-brown painted bands, the crouching, wide-bodied creature combining the bulging ringed eyes, crescentic fanged mouth, and squat rounded ears of the Moche supernatural frog/toad with heavily incised, radiating carapace-like lines across the back and haunches recalling crustacean anatomy, the whole surmounted by the characteristic looped stirrup spout; the underside of the jaw and chest bear a raised band of small ring-and-dot ornaments, likely denoting ceremonial adornment or a necklace element common to Moche supernatural figures.

Measuring 8-1/4 in. H (21 cm), the vessel shows an old nick to one ear tip and light surface encrustation consistent with burial deposit, with the slip and modeling otherwise well preserved and the stirrup spout intact. Comparable examples of Moche fanged frog/toad vessels are held by the Metropolitan Museum of Art (accession 1979.206.386 and related Frog Bottle, metmuseum.org), while anthropomorphic crab-being vessels of related type are in the Seattle Art Museum (77.18, art.seattleartmuseum.org)

Provenance: David Sheridan Collection, New Jersey.

Every object is guaranteed authentic and as described, and has been legally acquired and imported in accordance with U.S. and applicable foreign regulations on the movement and sale of antiquities. A signed certificate of authenticity with a description and photograph accompanies this object. Any restoration is described on the invoice.

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