**Originally Listed At $3000**

Pre-Columbian, Peru, Inca, ca. 1400 to 1533 CE. A biface silver figurine with renderings of standing females on both sides - created to honor Pachamama (Earth Mother). Each figure (depicted on front and back) stands with arms and hands held over her chest in prayer. They are nearly identical, however, they differ in the clothing and ornamentation. One wears a large pectoral around her neck and her headdress and skirt are adorned with cross hatch motifs. The other has delineated breasts and a headdress decorated with wave-motifs. The level of detail is quite impressive with visages comprised of lidded almond-shaped eyes, pointy noses, and open mouths as if praying or chanting, one with a centrally-parted coiffure. As with other female anthropomorphic figurines of this type, the heads are relatively large in proportion to the rest of her body. A fine example with a rich symbolic context as well as an impressively hefty form. Size: 1.875" H (4.8 cm). Silver quality: 78.4%. Weight: 37 grams.

Such miniature figurines wrought in precious metals were handed over as offerings to accompany human sacrifices during the ritual of capacocha, meaning royal sin or obligation. Upon the death of an Inca king, Capacocha took place. This ritual was used to incorporate new territory into the rapidly expanding Inca empire. Local lords selected unblemished children who represented the human ideal to Cusco. These children were then married and presented with miniature human and llama figurines made of gold, silver, copper, and shell. The human figurines hold their hands clasped to their chests - a gesture of reverence. Next, the children and their figural offerings returned to their original communities. There they were ceremoniously honored before being sacrificed to the mountain gods.

Such figures were ritually deposited and regarded as sacred entities known as "huacas" (a Quechua and Aymara term). A similar example is in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art (1979.206.1058). According to the Metropolitan Museum of Art curatorial department, "This figurine is similar in morphology and fabrication as ones often associated with assemblages from sites of capac hucha, or 'royal obligation,' described (Cieza de Leon 1959, 190 - 193; Diez de Betanzos 1996, 132) as an Inca state-sanctioned performance. In this practice, offerings were made in Cusco or in the hinterlands to mark the expansion of the empire and the service of the provincial peoples to the Inca royalty, in the process demonstrating reverence to certain sacred points in the natural landscape, including apus, or mountain deities, through the deposition of offerings. This pursuit of territorial control was undertaken through other tactics as well, such as the resettlement of conquered peoples and the mandate that peoples in Inca hinterlands bring huacas to Cusco and care for them there, in the imperial capital (Cobo 1979, 191). "

Provenance: ex Galeria Con Tici, Cassadaga, Florida, USA, 2011; ex Irene Lenz collection, Daytona Beach, Florida, USA

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#153204

Superb save minor casting flaws. Well-preserved details. Silver has developed a wonderful patina over the centuries.