Unknown artist (Peru, North Coast, Moche style), Portrait Head Vessel, c. 200–550 CE. earthenware with colored slips, Overall: 32 x 18.6 x 19.3 cm (12 5/8 x 7 5/16 x 7 5/8 in.). Cleveland Museum of Art, Gift of Mr. and Mrs. James C. Gruener. Public domain (CC0).

Portrait Head Vessel

Unknown artist (Peru, North Coast, Moche style), c. 200–550 CE. earthenware with colored slips.

Front view
Soft light
Sculpture

Ceramic vessel in the form of a man's head facing front under a patterned headdress, softly lit from the left against a dark ground.

Open in the value study maker

The image is free to use for any purpose: the museum has released it into the public domain.

Value studies

Portrait Head Vessel as a study in 2 values — **Notan, 2 values.** Split at value 2.4: 49% of the picture is dark and 51% light.

Portrait Head Vessel as a study in 3 values — **3 values.** 42% dark (values 0 to 1.8), 34% middle (1.8 to 4) and 24% light (4 to 10).

Portrait Head Vessel as a study in 5 values — **5 values.** From darkest to lightest: 33%, 15%, 19%, 19% and 14% of the picture.

Split at the picture's natural breaks between light and dark, with Simplify at 5, as in the value study maker. Values run from 0 (black) to 10 (white).

Palette

#0C0B0AValue 0.3, neutral
34%
#505150Value 3.4, neutral
18%
#2C2A27Value 1.7, neutral
15%
#7B7979Value 5.1, neutral
9%
#906743Value 4.7, warm
9%
#553724Value 2.6, warm
6%
#7A4425Value 3.5, warm
6%
#B69575Value 6.4, warm
3%

The 8 main colors run from value 0.3 to 6.4: 4 warm and 4 neutral. See warm and cool colors for how the labels are worked out.

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