Fox Runner Effigy Vessel Item Number: 36.332 from the Brooklyn Museum
Description
Stirrup-spout effigy vessel depicting a seated anthropomorphic fox (fox runner) with a fox head and human body. The figure wears a large circular disk headdress, a woven belt, and wrist and leg ornaments. He grasps the headdress ties in his hands. Condition: good.
Label
The anthropomorphic fox on this Moche effigy vessel wears a large, circular disk headdress that is also seen on fineline painted vessels, where it is associated with Ritual Runners, figures shown racing through desert landscapes. Similar disks in gold and copper have been found in elite burials, suggesting that Ritual Runners were a high-ranking group of adult males, possibly priests, who participated in a special ceremony. Scholars believe that Moche priests consumed the hallucinogenic San Pedro cactus in order to transform themselves into animal spirit helpers such as the fox.
Este zorro antropomórfico en esta vasija efigie Moche lleva un gran tocado circular que se ha visto también en vasijas pintadas con línea fina, donde se asocia con Corredores Rituales, figuras representadas corriendo a través de paisajes desiertos. Discos similares en oro y cobre han sido encontrados en enterratorios de élite, sugiriendo que los Corredores Rituales eran un grupo de hombres adultos de alto rango, posiblemente sacerdotes, que participaban en una ceremonia especial. Académicos creen que los sacerdotes Moche consumían el alucinógeno San Pedro para transformarse en espíritus animales ayudantes como el zorro.
Credit Line
Gift of Mrs. Eugene Schaefer
Item History
- Made between 400 and 700
What
Who
- Culture
- Moche
Where
- Holding Institution
- Brooklyn Museum
When
- Creation Date
- between 400 and 700
Other
- Location
- Arts of the Americas Galleries, 5th Floor
- Classification
- Vessel