The Mochica and their Pottery
"Since 'the pottery of the Mochicas is their language',
their ceramics are the best known of all the Peruvian
pre-Inca cultures; first because they have been so well
preserved, and second, because of their realism…. Every
detail of their lives seems to have been recorded. The
flora of the desert and the cultivated plants are all
depicted in their pottery; the fauna from the sea and
fauna of the land are so faithfully molded that the
species of each is identifiable.
The Mochicas' attitude towards animals is much like that
of early Egyptians, for whom animals and birds played an
active and very vital role in the day to day business of
their lives. The naturalistic animal portraits sculptured
by the Mochicas speak for themselves; yet it is the
tenderness, the affectionate manner of moulding or
painting them that brings this art of the Mochica and the
Egyptian together… Unrivaled in the Americas as a
portrayers of animals, the Mochica artist applied his keen
observation to all the animals that inhabited his world.
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