Pre-Columbian, Peru, Chavin, Lemon-Carro, ca. 1200 to 500 BCE. An incredibly rare artifact, a jade-like creamy white stone spoon for use in the taking of hallucinogenic drugs as part of shamanic rituals. The spoon handle is carved and incised with a step design in the form of a pyramid. On the back of the bowl, incised motifs show an abstract jaguar head in profile, with a serpent tongue protruding from its mouth. The chimera-like figure symbolizes the transformation that a person underwent by ingesting the drugs prepared with this spoon. Red cinnabar pigment colors the interior of the incised lines. Size: 3.35" W x 1.7" H (8.5 cm x 4.3 cm); 3.5" H (8.9 cm) on included custom stand.
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 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 features. 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.
Provenance: private Hawaii, USA collection; ex-private H.J. Westermann collection, Germany
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#143417
Condition
Intact, with dark manganese deposits on surface as shown. Old collection sticker on one side.