Chavin Bone Drug Spatula w/ Carved Jaguar

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Northwest Coast, Tribal, & Pre-Columbian Art

By Artemis Gallery

May 24, 2018

Set Reminder 2018-05-24 10:00:00 2018-05-24 10:00:00 America/New_York Bidsquare Bidsquare : Northwest Coast, Tribal, & Pre-Columbian Art https://www.bidsquare.com/auctions/artemis-gallery/northwest-coast-tribal-pre-columbian-art-3238
Featuring Pacific Northwest Coast Native American Art from respected collector / dealer, Joseph Alphabet. Artemis Gallery info@artemisgallery.com

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• Lot Description
  Pre-Columbian, North Coast Peru, Chavin, ca. 1200 to 500 BCE. A beautiful and finely-detailed drug spatula, hand-carved from human bone, with an incredible carving of an ornate jaguar on one end. The other end of the animal has been hollowed out, with much of the bone removed to create a smooth, gently concave scooping surface. The decorated end is densely carved, with a sinuous tail and slender recumbent body on one end, and terminating in the feline visage which displays rounded eyes, flared nostrils, and bared fangs. The face and body are embellished with both bright and pale red cinnabar pigment. An exquisite example from the ancients of Northern Peru! Custom museum-quality display stand included. Size: 0.875" W x 6.4" H (2.2 cm x 16.3 cm); 6.75" H (17.1 cm) on included custom stand.
  
  Spatulas like this one were used in the ingestion of hallucinogenic drugs, a crucial component of Chavin religious practice. The symbolism of the half-man, half-jaguar figure was important to the Chavin people. The center of their major urban center is Chavin de Huantar, a massive, flat-topped pyramid, surrounded by lower platforms. Between 1200 and 500 BCE the pyramid space was used for religious ceremonies. The Old Temple, constructed very early in the history of the site, consists of a series of passageways built around a circular courtyard; within were carved stone monuments showing jaguars, serpents, and other figures with transformative and/or anthropomorphic figures. At the very center is a towering stone stela depicting an anthropomorphic figure with a jaguar head and a human body, believed to be Lanzon, the chief deity of Chavin. Researchers believe that worshippers ingested hallucinogenic drugs, in part using spoons like this one, and then were led in the dark through the labyrinthine passageways before entering the central courtyard and coming abruptly face-to-face with the snarling features of the god.
  
  For an example of a Chavin jaguar drug spatula of a different form, please see The Metropolitan Museum of Art, accession number MKW-81384: https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/722371
  
  Provenance: private Hawaii, USA collection; ex-private H. J. Westermann collection, Germany, acquired between 1960 and 1970
  
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  A Certificate of Authenticity will accompany all winning bids.
  
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  #132556

  Condition

  Repair to tip of spatula with small chips and light adhesive residue along break lines. Surface wear and abrasions commensurate with age and use as expected, normal ossification, light discoloration, fading to red cinnabar accents and carved details in some areas, with small nicks to spatula tip and animal body. Light earthen and mineral deposits throughout.
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