The Festival of The Images in The Andes
The world of the dead, with people, skeletons, lizards and felines. Botella de cerámica / Bottle, ceramic. Moche, costa centro norte del Perú 1-700 d.C. Colección Museo Chileno de Arte Precolombino, 3380.
Spaces of the Moche World showcase.
Scene of a ruler’s burial. Bottle, ceramic. Moche, costa centro norte del Perú, 400- 600 d.C. Colección Museo Chileno de Arte Precolombino, 2918.
Scene of a ruler’s burial. Bottle, ceramic. Moche, costa centro norte del Perú, 400- 600 d.C. Colección Museo Chileno de Arte Precolombino, 2918. (Detail).
Drawing. Scene of a ruler’s burial. Bottle, ceramic. Moche, costa centro norte del Perú, 400- 600 d.C. Colección Museo Chileno de Arte Precolombino, 2918.
The world of the living and the world of the dead. Bottle, ceramic. Moche, costa centro norte del Perú, 1-700 d.C. Colección Museo Colchagua, PE-MCOL 01.
Drawing. The world of the living and the world of the dead. Bottle, ceramic. Moche, costa centro norte del Perú, 1-700 d.C. Colección Museo Colchagua, PE-MCOL 01.
The world of the living and the world of the dead. Bottle, ceramic. Moche, costa centro norte del Perú, 1-700 d.C. Colección Museo Colchagua, PE-MCOL 01.
The world of the dead, with people, skeletons, lizards and felines. Botella de cerámica / Bottle, ceramic. Moche, costa centro norte del Perú 1-700 d.C. Colección Museo Chileno de Arte Precolombino, 3380.
Scene of the ‘Mountain of Sacrifices.’ Bottle, ceramic. Moche, costa centro norte del Perú 1-700 d.C. Colección Museo Chileno de Arte Precolombino, 0313.
The world of the dead, with people, skeletons, lizards and felines. Botella de cerámica / Bottle, ceramic. Moche, costa centro norte del Perú 1-700 d.C. Colección Museo Chileno de Arte Precolombino, 3380.
‘Wrinkled-face’ ancestor.Bottle, ceramic. Moche, costa centro norte del Perú 1-700 d.C. Colección Museo Chileno de Arte Precolombino, 0456.
(1) Mythical scene with marine creatures.Bottle, ceramic. Moche, costa centro norte del Perú, 1-700 d.C. Colección Museo Chileno de Arte Precolombino, 0313. (2) Scene with a bird and sea lion, feline and serpent. Bottle, ceramic. Moche, costa centro norte del Perú, 1-700 d.C. Colección Museo Chileno de Arte Precolombino, 3594.
Spaces of The Moche World
Ceramics serve as a canvas for paintings but are also vessels—objects that transmit information. Several centuries before the Inka, the Moche culture that inhabited the northern coast of Peru (A.D. 100-800) depict the rituals and stories of their people in simple and complex scenes. These scenes depict the world of the dead, funerary processions, seaside graves, the ‘mountain of sacrifice’, celestial beings and animals such as birds, cats, sea lions and snakes. For the Moche, the living, the dead and the ancestors did not inhabit different worlds but lived in the same world, a world where living and deceased beings danced and played music alongside beings with both human and animal features.