This is an elegant example of a stirrup-spout bottle, one of the Moche’s most common types of vessel. The clay is twisted gracefully into the form of a long-necked bird, the cormorant. Although somewhat stylised in form, in accurately capturing 
the anatomy of the bird, the vessel demonstrates the immense skill of Moche potters. The cormorant’s off-white wings, set against its red body, display the palette of traditional Moche pottery to great effect.

A seabird, the cormorant inhabited areas along the coast of Peru and can be recognised on different Moche art forms. It has a strong association with water since it dives into the ocean while hunting for fish. For the Moche, water symbolised the entrance to the underworld, and the air, the spirit world. Therefore seabirds were revered as they moved from one realm to the next—flying in the spirit world and then diving through the gateway into the underworld. Moche imagery often combined elements from the third, earthly realm, in depictions of creatures that had the features of birds and land animals. These creatures—usually with the legs of a cat—represent the world of the living. However, both the spirit and underworlds are combined in images of the cormorant. As seabirds they also produced guano, highly prized in the northern coast region inhabited by the Moche, who used it to fertilise crops.

The bodies of Moche stirrup pots were generally made from moulds, in a two-piece process. Damp clay was pressed into both sides of the mould before being joined together. The top section of the future pot and its mould were then left open so the potter could insert their hand to join and smooth the moist clay together. As the clay dried it shrank, and the moulds could easily be separated from the newly formed pot. Coils of clay were then added to the top to form the mouth of the pot. The stirrup spout was created initially in a T-shape by joining three sections of clay tube that had been formed around different lengths of wooden rods. The resulting section was then bent into an arch and attached to the body using another coil of clay.¹ Although the body of the cormorant pot is more complex than many traditional stirrup-spout vessels, the process of making it would have been much the same.

Simeran Maxwell

1. For a more detailed description and diagrams of this process, see Christopher B. Donnan, Ceramics of ancient Peru, Los Angeles: Fowler Museum of Cultural History, UCLA 1992, pp. 60–62.

This is an elegant example of a stirrup-spout bottle, one of the Moche’s most common types of vessel. The clay is twisted gracefully into the form of a long-necked bird, the cormorant. Although somewhat stylised in form, in accurately capturing 
the anatomy of the bird, the vessel demonstrates the immense skill of Moche potters. The cormorant’s off-white wings, set against its red body, display the palette of traditional Moche pottery to great effect.

A seabird, the cormorant inhabited areas along the coast of Peru and can be recognised on different Moche art forms. It has a strong association with water since it dives into the ocean while hunting for fish. For the Moche, water symbolised the entrance to the underworld, and the air, the spirit world. Therefore seabirds were revered as they moved from one realm to the next—flying in the spirit world and then diving through the gateway into the underworld. Moche imagery often combined elements from the third, earthly realm, in depictions of creatures that had the features of birds and land animals. These creatures—usually with the legs of a cat—represent the world of the living. However, both the spirit and underworlds are combined in images of the cormorant. As seabirds they also produced guano, highly prized in the northern coast region inhabited by the Moche, who used it to fertilise crops.

The bodies of Moche stirrup pots were generally made from moulds, in a two-piece process. Damp clay was pressed into both sides of the mould before being joined together. The top section of the future pot and its mould were then left open so the potter could insert their hand to join and smooth the moist clay together. As the clay dried it shrank, and the moulds could easily be separated from the newly formed pot. Coils of clay were then added to the top to form the mouth of the pot. The stirrup spout was created initially in a T-shape by joining three sections of clay tube that had been formed around different lengths of wooden rods. The resulting section was then bent into an arch and attached to the body using another coil of clay.¹ Although the body of the cormorant pot is more complex than many traditional stirrup-spout vessels, the process of making it would have been much the same.

Simeran Maxwell

1. For a more detailed description and diagrams of this process, see Christopher B. Donnan, Ceramics of ancient Peru, Los Angeles: Fowler Museum of Cultural History, UCLA 1992, pp. 60–62.