Pre-Columbian, Peru, Chavin, ca. 900 to 400 BCE. A stone mace head, finely carved in the form of a fish, with a round socket through its center. The piscine form presents marvelous details. Note its fins and tail with deeply incised linear motifs, as well as its crescentic head projecting forward, two incised rectangular eyes, each one deeply drilled with pupils that perhaps once held stone inlays - staring upward at the viewer. Finally, a thick lip borders the socket. Size: 6.25" W x 2.3" H (15.9 cm x 5.8 cm)
This mace head reveals a fascinating fact about the Chavin. Even though they lived in the uplands, 50 kilometers inland, fish and shellfish were some of their major protein sources. They created wide-ranging trade networks with people located along the coast, and both subsistence and luxury goods were exchanged between the lowlands and the highlands. The Chavin were also able to traverse the Jequetepeque river for fish and other marine life when trade was slowed due to weather, war, or other circumstances.
The Chavin people lived in the northern Highland Andes, and their capital, Chavin de Huantar, is an UNESCO World Heritage Site. The artwork of Chavin represents the first widespread artistic style in the Andes. The center of Chavin de Huantar is 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.
Provenance: private Fort Lauderdale, Florida, USA collection; ex-Minerva Gallery; ex-Benjamin Vega, California, USA, acquired in 2006 to 2007; ex-Gene and Virginia George, brought to the USA from 1961 to 1966
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#155008
Condition
The surface is weathered but the form and details are still quite vivid. Intact, with rich deposits in lower profile areas and pigment remaining on the upper half (the lower half does not appear to have ever been painted).