Pre-Columbian, Peru, Nazca culture, ca. 100 BCE to 800 CE. This is a fascinating object - a rough wooden shaft with a flat, flared end and a stone six-pointed mace head at the top and decorated with beautiful dusky blue and pale reddish brown feathers below the mace head and extending down the shaft. The incised decorations on the mace head show a human figure with arms and legs splayed. Most of what we know about the Nazca comes from cemeteries, which are much more impressive than the remains of their buildings. Although there is no surface evidence for burials on the sandy plain, once a grave has been excavated, it reveals a wealth of grave goods, many of which are made of highly perishable materials like the feathers here or textiles that have been preserved by the dry conditions of the of the Nazca homeland. A club like this would have graced the grave of a high status individual and today is a very unique, beautiful object. Size: 4.5" W x 16.5" H (11.4 cm x 41.9 cm)

Provenance: Ex-private Boston, MA collection acquired before 1975

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#112660

Wood with a bit of wear and softness else remarkably intact.