Moche Warrior Watchman

This sculptural ceramic vessel (4th–5th cc.) portrays a watchman warrior, his gaze fixed on the horizon. Wearing only a headscarf, headband, and short skirt, he grips a shield in his left hand, marking his role. Likely from the Jequetepeque Valley, such bottles linked martial duty with funerary rites and the Moche vision of continuity between life and afterlife.