The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of April 19, 2024

Bound Deer Effigy Vessel

Bound Deer Effigy Vessel

1000–1460s
Ceramic
Overall: 18.7 x 24 x 13 cm (7 3/8 x 9 7/16 x 5 1/8 in.)
Severance and Greta Millikin Purchase Fund 2017.59
Location: 232 Andean

Did You Know?

Chimú potters fired their vessels in an atmosphere of reduced oxygen to achieve a uniform black surface.

Description

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.
  • -1968
    Alan Lapiner, New York, NY, sold to a Private Collector
    1968-2017
    Private Collector, New York, NY, sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art
    2017-
    The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
  • Lapiner, Alan C. Pre-Columbian Art of South America. New York: H.N. Abrams, 1976. p. 268, figure 602 right
    Princeton University, and Jay I. Kislak Reference Collection (Library of Congress). In Celebration: Works of Art from the Collections of Princeton Alumni and Friends of the Art Museum, Princeton University. [Princeton, N.J.]: The Museum, 1997. Fig. 107
  • In Celebration, Princeton University Art Museum (Feb. 22-June 8, 1997).
  • {{cite web|title=Bound Deer Effigy Vessel|url=false|author=|year=1000–1460s|access-date=19 April 2024|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/2017.59