Stirrup Spout Bottle with Bird and Snake 5th-7th century Moche This black stirrup-spout bottle depicting a bird with a conch shell on its back was fabricated by ceramicists of the Moche culture on the North Coast of Peru. The wide-open eyes, including the small incisions underneath them, are indicative of the avian species, but the E-shaped ears and large incisors suggest a supernatural character. It is unclear if the animal, which based upon the shape of its beak and eyes is a raptor, carries or emanates from the Strombus shell. In its feet the bird clutches a thin snake modeled along the base of the vessel. As there was no tradition of writing in South America prior to the arrival of Europeans in the sixteenth century, it is difficult to determine with precision the meaning of this imagery. The stirrup-spout vesselthe shape of the spout recalls the stirrup on a horse's saddlewas a much favored form on Peru's northern coast for about 2,500 years. Although the importance and symbolis