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Bound Deer Effigy Vessel
From the collection of Cleveland Museum of Art. Free to download, adapt and use — no permission needed.
About this work
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.
Cleveland Museum of Art’s own descriptionCredit lineBound 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
