Vessel Representing the Sacrifice Ceremony

500–700 CE
Not on view
Returned to lender
This work of art was on loan to the museum and has since been returned to its lender.
The ceremony on this vessel is separated into two scenes by a long, snakelike creature. Below, a feline sits in a litter, and two figures appear to collect blood from the throats of seated prisoners. Above, a warrior-priest in a crescent headdress holds a goblet aloft. He faces an anthropomorphic bird, behind whom stands a priestess in a double-plumed headdress. The resemblance between the regalia depicted here and objects found in Moche tombs suggests the Moche people engaged in these rites.



En esta vasija, la ceremonia del sacrificio está compuesta por dos escenas separadas entre ellas por una criatura larga con forma de serpiente. Abajo, un felino está sentado sobre un palanquín y dos figuras parecen estar recogiendo la sangre que sale de las gargantas de los prisioneros sentados y amarrados. Arriba, un sacerdote-guerrero con un tocado en forma de media luna sostiene una copa en alto. Está confrontando a un pájaro antropomórfico, detrás del cual se puede observar a una sacerdotisa con un tocado de doble penacho y a otra figura más. La similitud entre la indumentaria encontrada aquí y los objetos encontrados en tumbas moche sugiere que los Moche llevaban a cabo estos ritos.

Artwork Details

Object Information
  • Title: Vessel Representing the Sacrifice Ceremony
  • Date: 500–700 CE
  • Geography: Peru
  • Culture: Moche
  • Medium: Ceramic
  • Dimensions: H. 11 5/16 × W. 6 1/16 × D. 6 1/16 in. (28.7 × 15.4 × 15.4 cm)
  • Classification: Ceramics-Vessels
  • Credit Line: Museo Larco, Lima, Peru (ML010847)
  • Curatorial Department: The Michael C. Rockefeller Wing