Moche portrait vessel

[1] While most Moche portrait vessels feature heads, some portray full human figures.

The ruler is depicted wearing a material turban on which there is a headdress decorated by a two-headed bird with feathers on side.

The effigy also wears tubular earrings that can be found in the "Gold and Silver Gallery" of the Larco Museum.

Nonetheless, information gained from various archaeological discoveries in the North Coast over the past 20 years suggests that it belonged to the tomb of a member of the Moche elite.

Archaeologists found this type of headdress, made of reed, in the tomb of the warrior priest god in the Huaca de la Cruz, an archaeological site situated in the Virú Valley, 40 km (25 mi) south of Trujillo, explored by Strong and Evans in 1940.

Moche portrait vessel, Musée du quai Branly , ca. 100—700 CE, 16 x 29 x 22 cm
Moche portrait vessel, ca. 100—500 CE, Worcester Art Museum
portrait vessel featuring paralysis , Larco Museum
Huaco Retrato Mochica in the Larco Museum , in Lima , Peru