On view
Art of the Ancient Americas
Stirrup-spout vessel in the form of a shaman with jaguar head band curing an ill female,
200–600 CE
Mochica
Early Intermediate Period
2016-1162
More Context
Special Exhibition
A male curer sits, likely in a trance, rigidly upright with eyes wide open while his hands assess his female patient’s abdomen. One of the curer’s key implements, a rattle with a long tassel, is slung around his neck, with the double-chambered rattle resting behind his left shoulder. Traditional healers in the Moche region still use rattles to call guardian spirits and to ward off dangerous ones. We can imagine that rattling may have occurred just before the Moche curer depicted on this vessel placed the instrument aside to use his hands, as a modern Western doctor might do with his or her stethoscope.
Information
Title
Stirrup-spout vessel in the form of a shaman with jaguar head band curing an ill female
Dates
200–600 CE
Medium
Ceramic with red and white slip
Dimensions
21.3 × 11.5 × 20 cm (8 3/8 × 4 1/2 × 7 7/8 in.)
Credit Line
Bequest of Gillett G. Griffin
Object Number
2016-1162
Place Made
South America, Peru, North coast
Culture
Period
Type
Subject
Mathias Komor (1909-1984), New York, NY; purchased on March 12 1955, by Gillett G. Griffin (1928-2016), Princeton, NJ [1]; bequest to the Princeton University Art Museum, 2006. [1] According to correspondence between Griffin and Komor.
