Fox Runner Effigy Vessel
ca. 400-700
Moche
Arts of the Americas
The anthropomorphic fox on this effigy vessel wears a large disc headdress associated with the Ritual Runners, figures shown racing through the desert landscape in many examples of Moche art. Similar discs in gold and copper have been found in elite burials, suggesting that the Ritual Runners were a high-ranking group of adult males, possibly priests, who participated in special ceremonies throughout the Moche territory. Scholars believe that Moche priests consumed the hallucinogenic San Pedro cactus (Echinopsis pachanoi) to transform themselves into animal spirit helpers such as the fox.
- Maker/Artist
- Moche
- Classification
- Vessel
- Formatted Medium
- Ceramic, pigments
- Locations
- Place found: North Coast, Peru
- Dimensions
- 10 3/4 x 5 3/4 x 8 7/8 in. (27.3 x 14.6 x 22.5 cm)
- Departments
- Arts of the Americas
- Accession Number
- 36.332
- Credit Line
- Gift of Mrs. Eugene Schaefer
- Exhibitions
- Life, Death, and Transformation in the Americas, Climate in Crisis: Environmental Change in the Indigenous Americas
- Rights Statement
- Creative Commons-BY
- Museum Location
- Arts of the Americas Galleries, 5th Floor
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