Chimú silver vessels range in shape from plain, elegant flared vases to naturalistically rendered animal and human forms. This pleasing deer vessel, fabricated when silver production had reached its peak, displays the naturalism that characterized similar works in ceramic created by earlier cultures on the North Coast. Deer are rare in Chimú art but appear frequently in the art of the Moche, who depicted them naturalistically and anthropomorphized, in hunting and in combat scenes with ritualistic associations. It is not known whether the animal had the same meaning in the Chimú culture.