Pre-Columbian, North Coast Peru, Chimu, ca. 1470 to 1532 CE. A blackware double-chambered whistling vessel comprised of two mold-made bottles, the rear one with a conical spout, the other with a blind spout modeled with a human guardian head with a double-peaked helmet, front and back containers bridged by a flat, hollow handle. The outward faces of the bottles are impressed with a textile design with numerous rows of zigzags set on diagonals. According to scholar Michael Moseley (see Art of the Andes, p. 207), this design was probably a heraldic device. The inner faces are both stippled as was also characteristic of Chimu pottery. Size: 7.25" L x 4.25" W x 7.5" H (18.4 cm x 10.8 cm x 19 cm)

The helmet that this figure wears seems to be a variant of the typical double-peaked helmet, as the peaks are more separated than is usual, and one ear is perforated. Regardless, its likeness is very much akin to the so-called guardian heads depicted on Chimu pottery. According to Paul Clifford these figures are very similar to and perhaps inspired by a pair of statues discovered at a palace entrance in Chan Chan. The following discussion explains, "The archaeologist Kent Day, excavating the palace gateway of the Ciudadela Rivero in Chan Chan in 1973, revealed two wooden statues in their original position on each side of the narrow passage. Each figure stands at attention in military garb in a guard booth or niche built into the passage wall. These statues presumably held a staff or spear in their raised arms. They have been interpreted as from a squad of eighteen that once flanked the palace entrance. They wear earspools, indicative of high rank. Distinctive also are the bipointed helmets indicating ethnic, if not military, affiliations." (Paul Clifford and Elizabeth P. Benson, "Art of the Andes from the Arthur M. Sackler Collections," AMS: Washington D.C., 1983, p. 207.)

Provenance: Whisnant Gallery, New Orleans, Louisiana USA acquired over twenty years ago

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#123070

Spout reattached and possible repair to outward face of rear bottle. Minor surface wear commensurate with age.