Pre-Columbian, North Coast Peru, Chancay culture, ca. 1000 to 1470 CE. A large woven camelid (alpaca or llama) wool textile presenting zoomorphic or avian creatures - perhaps owls occupying the diamond-shaped motifs in chocolate brown on the beige ground as well as the reverse - chocolate brown surrounding the beige negative of this motif - and another bird or possibly serpentine head in chocolate brown to the right. The owl was widely symbolic in the Pre-Columbian world. Owls were considered Shamanic, guiding humans on their journeys to other worlds, the divine, and death. Serpents were regarded to be a beneficial source of nourishment and at the same time quite deadly with their poisonous venom. Also important to the indigenous was the fact that snakes shed their skin annually thus rejuvenating themselves and serving as symbols of renewal and good health! Size: 15.25" W x 19.75" H (38.7 cm x 50.2 cm); 22.375" W x 26.25" H (56.8 cm x 66.7 cm) including framing

Provenance: private East Coast, USA collection; ex-private Mazard collection, France, acquired in the 1970s

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#139460

Some loosened fibers and staining as shown. Nice selvage edges.