Bound Deer Effigy Vessel

1000–1460s

Bound Deer Effigy Vessel, 1000–1460s. Andes, north coast, Chimú people. Ceramic; overall: 18.7 x 24 x 13 cm (7 3/8 x 9 7/16 x 5 1/8 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Severance and Greta Millikin Purchase Fund 2017.59 This vessel was made by an artist of the Chimú Empire of Peru’s north coast. In the art of the Moche, an earlier culture in the region, the deer had complex symbolism related to ritual combat and the capture of prisoners. A memory of that symbolism may survive here in the binding of the deer’s feet. Chimú potters fired their vessels in an atmosphere of reduced oxygen to achieve a uniform black surface.