Pre-Columbian, Chancay culture, Peru, ca. 800 to 1200 CE. Wow! An impressive example of a classic Chancay form, a star gazer, holding a fruit, perhaps a cherimoya - a succulent fruit native to Peru as well as Ecuador, Colombia, Bolivia, and Chile. Adorned in black and cream pigments, the ancient figure sits with legs drawn up before her as her arms rest on her bulbous belly, just below her pointed breasts with incised nipples and above her elaborately decorated belt. Her eccentric visage displays huge, target-motif eyes, a pointed nose with delineated nostrils, and gently parted lips, all flanked by a pair of petite ears, while 2 breast coverings rest over her shoulders. A conical headdress towers above her, opening at the top to form the mouth of the vessel as it supports the strap of a coca bag that rests on her back just below the vessel's strap-form handle. Size: 7.2" W x 14.4" H (18.3 cm x 36.6 cm)

Such large Chancay figures are usually female. The purpose of such figures is unknown; however, as they have been frequently discovered in Chancay graves, some scholars argue that they may have represented a symbolic female companion to accompany the deceased into the afterworld. This said, a few male/female pairs have been found in gravesites, hence challenging this theory of female companionship.

The Chancay people were exceptional ceramic and textile artisans, and archaeologists have often found cuchimilcos in the tombs of Chancay nobility. Some scholars believe that their outstretched hands were intended to absorb negative energy. Chancay artisans created ceramics that are quite distinctive in form and decoration - finely painted and molded with specific decorative details carefully added by hand as we see in this example.

Provenance: private Hawaii, USA collection, acquired from 1995 to 2010; ex-private Hans Juergen Westermann collection, Germany, collected from 1950 to 1960s

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#168500

Repaired from several pieces with restoration. Expected abrasions in some areas, commensurate with age. Otherwise, excellent with nice remaining details.