Pre-Columbian, North Coast Peru, Chimu, ca. 1000 to 1400 CE. A handsome blackware mold-made stirrup vessel with a large monkey perched upon a cube-shaped base and a smaller monkey crawling up the handle toward the spout. This example has a simian iconographic theme. Monkeys were highly symbolic among the ancients of the Americas. The indigenous peoples were fascinated by the physical antics of these animals and viewed them as parodying human behavior. Size: 8-3/4" x 5-7/8".

The Chimu civilization developed after the Moche, flourishing from 1000 to 1400 CE, during the Late Intermediate Period, prior to the rise of the Inca Empire, and Chimu artisans were heavily influenced by the Moche. Stirrup vessels were the prominent ceramic form of the ancients of Peru, and they provide a window onto the religion, rituals, socio-economics and every day life of these Pre-Columbian cultures. All aspects of life were depicted on these vessels: naturalistic plants and animals, anthropomorphized animals that often represented deities, portraits, scenes of daily life ranging from the erotic to the sacrificial to the militaristic.

Provenance: Ex-private D. C. collection, California. Emmy Award Winning Hollywood writer and Executive Producer, collected before 2000.

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#109172

A chip or abrasion behind the larger monkey's rear; a few nicks to the rim of the spout, and surface wear as shown.