Shamans, Supernaturals & Animal Spirits: Mythic Figures From the Ancient Andes

202
Panel from a Tunic?
Staff-Bearer with Mouth Emanation
Moche-Wari culture, Huarmey Valley?
AD 750-1000
Cotton, camelid wool; interlocking and
slit tapestry weave
6¼" x 6¼"
Published
Anton 1984, fig. 101.
Acutely slanted lines and wedge shapes are some of several
idiosyncratic stylistic features seen in this variant of the
north coast Winged Sacrificer.
The figure carries a painted pole thrust into a huge severed
head wrapped in a bulky turban. The tie-dyed(?) design on this
headcloth is markedly different from the wave motifs decorating
the Sacrificer's own crown. That subtle distinction between
styles of headdressing suggests that the image commemorates
the defeat and death of an outsider or enemy combatant, who
would have been identified by different attire.
As in the portrayal of a Monkey Lord in cat. 201, an abstract
sign or glyph projects conspicuously from the figure’s jutting
jaw and mouth. Although this enigmatic motif could denote
a tongue or something ingested, plausibly it also signifies an
exhalation of sound or breath. In Moche iconography, the act
of whistling marked the sacred moment just prior to a ritual
sacrifice or burial, alerting the wakas and ancestors to the gift
of a human life. 1
A minor detail illustrates how Andean weavers availed
themselves of any opportunity to produce "double-entendre"
figures out of adjacent motifs and negative space. With the
mere addition of a stray limb to the back of the deity's foot,
the feline head and paw attached to the bottom of his wing
delineate the profile form of a pouncing or running cat (left).
One wonders how much this kind of hidden or supplemental
imagery reflected the individual artist’s spin on the standardized
iconographic canon.
1 Elizabeth Benson, The Worlds of the Moche on the North Coast of Peru (2012): 107.
154