MOCHE culture North coast 100 – 800 AD
Stirrup vessel in the form of a woman nursing a baby 100-800 AD ceramic , mould made, painted slip, fired17.8 (h) x 14.1 (w) x 10.5 (d) cm Museo Larco, Lima Photograph: Museo Larco
Whether as deity figures, commoners, warriors or rulers, images of women are far less prevalent in ancient Peruvian art than images of men. Moche pottery sees the most frequent use of female imagery, although there ‘too’ it is quite rare. However, a group of pottery vessels depicting maternity figures, including breast-feeding women as seen here, does exist. The Moche produced the largest volume of this type, although similar imagery has been found on pottery made by the earlier Cupisnique and later Chimú cultures. The latter produced cruder versions of seated breast-feeding women. Subtly different from this imagery, the Moche and Vicús (in rougher versions) also produced maternity figures: women cradling babies and even in the throes of childbirth.1
Yet because such ceramics were purchased by private collectors rather than scientifically excavated from tombs, it is hard to decipher their purpose and the burial circumstances, including the quantities in which they were found. Thus the discovery of the Lady of Cao’s tomb at the El Brujo site, north of Trujillo in the La Libertad region of Peru in 2006, has added considerably to knowledge about this facet of Peruvian art. Along with many other symbols of wealth, power and ritual, the Lady of Cao was found buried with a vessel depicting a nursing woman, quite similar to this one.2
Leading archaeologist Régulo Franco believes that the 25-year-old Lady of Cao was a Moche ruler, since she was buried with two tall gilded copper and wood staffs, a known symbol of authority. Although the Lady of Cao is the first female ruler found to date, the mummies of two priestesses were discovered at San José de Moro and other women’s graves have been discovered in the Cerro Blanco Complex at Huaca Cao Viejo.3 None of this specific type of pottery, however, is known to have been uncovered in those graves.
The Lady of Cao was also discovered with the largest quantity of Moche grave goods found to date, alongside the sacrificed bodies of male guards and a strangled teenage girl. The ruler is known to have given birth and her arms and feet are covered with tattoos of spiders and snakes, symbols of fertility. Imagery of breast-feeding and of mothers and babies reinforces the important Moche values of fertility and regeneration.
Figures of Moche women can often be identified by their specific clothing: in particular, they are frequently associated with shawls and capes. These garments assist in identifying them in fine-line imagery and in three-dimensional sculptures. But in some cases this garment was also worn by male skeletons (see cat. 103). Often these capes are red, a symbol of blood, an essential Moche life-force. Worn by a male skeleton, it represents the dualism of the universe and the cycle of life and death—the red cape stands for life and woman, while the white skeleton embodies death and men.4 Imagery of children adds the important Moche element of rebirth.
Interesting changes are evident in images of Moche women from the eighth century. Ceramics depicting women with facial labrets (large piercings below their lower lips), heart-shaped skulls and distinctive long hairdos began to appear in pottery, sculpture and vessels. As this style of dressing is considerably different from traditional Moche female attire, it is thought that it was adopted as a result of contact with cultures to the north. Ceramics showing this female representation have been found in children’s graves at San José de Moro, as have pots shaped as these women holding babies (but not breast-feeding).5 Thus this ceramic appears to date from the earlier Moche period, as the woman has braided hair and wears a traditional ankle-length tunic with slit sleeves.
Simeran Maxwell
1. The Museo Larco has a collection of ceramics depicting breast-feeding from the Moche and other ancient cultures, including Cupisnique (ML040342), Chimú (ML021183) and Sicán-Lambayeque (ML017985). The wider maternity theme appears on pots from the Recuay (ML040415) and Vicús (ML004421) cultures, contemporaneous with the Moche.
2. See A. R. Williams, ‘Mystery of the tattooed mummy’, National Geographic, vol. 209, no. 6, June 2006, pp. 71, 73–76, 79, 81, 83.
3. Women found at other Moche grave sites had been sacrificed to be buried with elite male leaders. See Elizabeth P. Benson, The worlds of the Moche on the north coast of Peru, Austin: University of Texas Press 2012, p. 124.
4. Steve Bourget, Sex, death, and sacrifice in Moche religion and visual culture, Austin: University of Texas Press 2006, p. 108.
5. Alana Cordy-Collins, ‘Labretted ladies: Foreign women in northern Moche and Lambayeque art’, in Joanne Pillsbury (ed.), Moche art and archaeology in ancient Peru, Washington D.C.: National Gallery of Art 2001, pp. 248–49.
Whether as deity figures, commoners, warriors or rulers, images of women are far less prevalent in ancient Peruvian art than images of men. Moche pottery sees the most frequent use of female imagery, although there ‘too’ it is quite rare. However, a group of pottery vessels depicting maternity figures, including breast-feeding women as seen here, does exist. The Moche produced the largest volume of this type, although similar imagery has been found on pottery made by the earlier Cupisnique and later Chimú cultures. The latter produced cruder versions of seated breast-feeding women. Subtly different from this imagery, the Moche and Vicús (in rougher versions) also produced maternity figures: women cradling babies and even in the throes of childbirth.1
Yet because such ceramics were purchased by private collectors rather than scientifically excavated from tombs, it is hard to decipher their purpose and the burial circumstances, including the quantities in which they were found. Thus the discovery of the Lady of Cao’s tomb at the El Brujo site, north of Trujillo in the La Libertad region of Peru in 2006, has added considerably to knowledge about this facet of Peruvian art. Along with many other symbols of wealth, power and ritual, the Lady of Cao was found buried with a vessel depicting a nursing woman, quite similar to this one.2
Leading archaeologist Régulo Franco believes that the 25-year-old Lady of Cao was a Moche ruler, since she was buried with two tall gilded copper and wood staffs, a known symbol of authority. Although the Lady of Cao is the first female ruler found to date, the mummies of two priestesses were discovered at San José de Moro and other women’s graves have been discovered in the Cerro Blanco Complex at Huaca Cao Viejo.3 None of this specific type of pottery, however, is known to have been uncovered in those graves.
The Lady of Cao was also discovered with the largest quantity of Moche grave goods found to date, alongside the sacrificed bodies of male guards and a strangled teenage girl. The ruler is known to have given birth and her arms and feet are covered with tattoos of spiders and snakes, symbols of fertility. Imagery of breast-feeding and of mothers and babies reinforces the important Moche values of fertility and regeneration.
Figures of Moche women can often be identified by their specific clothing: in particular, they are frequently associated with shawls and capes. These garments assist in identifying them in fine-line imagery and in three-dimensional sculptures. But in some cases this garment was also worn by male skeletons (see cat. 103). Often these capes are red, a symbol of blood, an essential Moche life-force. Worn by a male skeleton, it represents the dualism of the universe and the cycle of life and death—the red cape stands for life and woman, while the white skeleton embodies death and men.4 Imagery of children adds the important Moche element of rebirth.
Interesting changes are evident in images of Moche women from the eighth century. Ceramics depicting women with facial labrets (large piercings below their lower lips), heart-shaped skulls and distinctive long hairdos began to appear in pottery, sculpture and vessels. As this style of dressing is considerably different from traditional Moche female attire, it is thought that it was adopted as a result of contact with cultures to the north. Ceramics showing this female representation have been found in children’s graves at San José de Moro, as have pots shaped as these women holding babies (but not breast-feeding).5 Thus this ceramic appears to date from the earlier Moche period, as the woman has braided hair and wears a traditional ankle-length tunic with slit sleeves.
Simeran Maxwell
1. The Museo Larco has a collection of ceramics depicting breast-feeding from the Moche and other ancient cultures, including Cupisnique (ML040342), Chimú (ML021183) and Sicán-Lambayeque (ML017985). The wider maternity theme appears on pots from the Recuay (ML040415) and Vicús (ML004421) cultures, contemporaneous with the Moche.
2. See A. R. Williams, ‘Mystery of the tattooed mummy’, National Geographic, vol. 209, no. 6, June 2006, pp. 71, 73–76, 79, 81, 83.
3. Women found at other Moche grave sites had been sacrificed to be buried with elite male leaders. See Elizabeth P. Benson, The worlds of the Moche on the north coast of Peru, Austin: University of Texas Press 2012, p. 124.
4. Steve Bourget, Sex, death, and sacrifice in Moche religion and visual culture, Austin: University of Texas Press 2006, p. 108.
5. Alana Cordy-Collins, ‘Labretted ladies: Foreign women in northern Moche and Lambayeque art’, in Joanne Pillsbury (ed.), Moche art and archaeology in ancient Peru, Washington D.C.: National Gallery of Art 2001, pp. 248–49.
Whether as deity figures, commoners, warriors or rulers, images of women are far less prevalent in ancient Peruvian art than images of men. Moche pottery sees the most frequent use of female imagery, although there ‘too’ it is quite rare. However, a group of pottery vessels depicting maternity figures, including breast-feeding women as seen here, does exist. The Moche produced the largest volume of this type, although similar imagery has been found on pottery made by the earlier Cupisnique and later Chimú cultures. The latter produced cruder versions of seated breast-feeding women. Subtly different from this imagery, the Moche and Vicús (in rougher versions) also produced maternity figures: women cradling babies and even in the throes of childbirth.1
Yet because such ceramics were purchased by private collectors rather than scientifically excavated from tombs, it is hard to decipher their purpose and the burial circumstances, including the quantities in which they were found. Thus the discovery of the Lady of Cao’s tomb at the El Brujo site, north of Trujillo in the La Libertad region of Peru in 2006, has added considerably to knowledge about this facet of Peruvian art. Along with many other symbols of wealth, power and ritual, the Lady of Cao was found buried with a vessel depicting a nursing woman, quite similar to this one.2
Leading archaeologist Régulo Franco believes that the 25-year-old Lady of Cao was a Moche ruler, since she was buried with two tall gilded copper and wood staffs, a known symbol of authority. Although the Lady of Cao is the first female ruler found to date, the mummies of two priestesses were discovered at San José de Moro and other women’s graves have been discovered in the Cerro Blanco Complex at Huaca Cao Viejo.3 None of this specific type of pottery, however, is known to have been uncovered in those graves.
The Lady of Cao was also discovered with the largest quantity of Moche grave goods found to date, alongside the sacrificed bodies of male guards and a strangled teenage girl. The ruler is known to have given birth and her arms and feet are covered with tattoos of spiders and snakes, symbols of fertility. Imagery of breast-feeding and of mothers and babies reinforces the important Moche values of fertility and regeneration.
Figures of Moche women can often be identified by their specific clothing: in particular, they are frequently associated with shawls and capes. These garments assist in identifying them in fine-line imagery and in three-dimensional sculptures. But in some cases this garment was also worn by male skeletons (see cat. 103). Often these capes are red, a symbol of blood, an essential Moche life-force. Worn by a male skeleton, it represents the dualism of the universe and the cycle of life and death—the red cape stands for life and woman, while the white skeleton embodies death and men.4 Imagery of children adds the important Moche element of rebirth.
Interesting changes are evident in images of Moche women from the eighth century. Ceramics depicting women with facial labrets (large piercings below their lower lips), heart-shaped skulls and distinctive long hairdos began to appear in pottery, sculpture and vessels. As this style of dressing is considerably different from traditional Moche female attire, it is thought that it was adopted as a result of contact with cultures to the north. Ceramics showing this female representation have been found in children’s graves at San José de Moro, as have pots shaped as these women holding babies (but not breast-feeding).5 Thus this ceramic appears to date from the earlier Moche period, as the woman has braided hair and wears a traditional ankle-length tunic with slit sleeves.
Simeran Maxwell
1. The Museo Larco has a collection of ceramics depicting breast-feeding from the Moche and other ancient cultures, including Cupisnique (ML040342), Chimú (ML021183) and Sicán-Lambayeque (ML017985). The wider maternity theme appears on pots from the Recuay (ML040415) and Vicús (ML004421) cultures, contemporaneous with the Moche.
2. See A. R. Williams, ‘Mystery of the tattooed mummy’, National Geographic, vol. 209, no. 6, June 2006, pp. 71, 73–76, 79, 81, 83.
3. Women found at other Moche grave sites had been sacrificed to be buried with elite male leaders. See Elizabeth P. Benson, The worlds of the Moche on the north coast of Peru, Austin: University of Texas Press 2012, p. 124.
4. Steve Bourget, Sex, death, and sacrifice in Moche religion and visual culture, Austin: University of Texas Press 2006, p. 108.
5. Alana Cordy-Collins, ‘Labretted ladies: Foreign women in northern Moche and Lambayeque art’, in Joanne Pillsbury (ed.), Moche art and archaeology in ancient Peru, Washington D.C.: National Gallery of Art 2001, pp. 248–49.
