Pre-Columbian, Central Coast Peru, Chimu, ca. 1100 to 1470 CE. A charming blackware stirrup vessel in the form of a seated Chimu lord holding a petite feline, likely a jaguar. The figure gazes forward, adorned in an elaborate headdress and huge earspools - both indicative of his elevated social status. This iconography is greatly symbolic, as the jaguar was associated with power and might throughout the Pre-Columbian world. Warriors, rulers, hunters, and shamans alike associated themselves with this king of beasts, the largest and most powerful feline in the New World. The principal deity of the Moche, whose ceramics inspired subsequent Peruvian cultures including the Chimu, wears a headdress adorned with a jaguar head and paws and important mortals donned similar headdresses. A nocturnal animal, the jaguar sleeps in caves and dark places and creeps quietly in the forest, evoking great mystery. Size: 4.6" W x 6.2" H (11.7 cm x 15.7 cm)

Provenance: private Leonard collection, Virginia, USA, acquired in Peru in the 1970s

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#180452

Some miniscule chips to spout and light surface wear, commensurate with age, but otherwise intact and excellent with impressive remaining detail.