Pre-Columbian, North Coast Peru, Chimu, ca. 1100 to 1470 CE. A gorgeous textile panel comprised of tightly-woven camelid (alpaca or llama wool) fibers in a palette of earthtone hues including maroon, fuchsia, wheat, tan, coffee, jet, and cream. The panel displays four smaller rectangular areas depicting a quartet of abstract standing anthropomorphic figures surrounded by undulating waveform motifs. Each figure represents Nayalam the Emperor, the primary deity of creation in Chimu lore, standing upon pronged feet with a triangular body, arms held out to the sides, and wearing a drooping headdress atop a triangular head. Nayalam is also known as the "navigator" due to multiple depictions of the deity sitting inside reed boats while traversing Peru's many waterways. A striking and elegantly-presented textile from ancient Peru! Mounted on a fabric backing. Size (textile): 4.625" W x 25.125" H (11.7 cm x 63.8 cm); size (backing): 19.25" W x 40.5" H (48.9 cm x 102.9 cm).
Provenance: private Hawaii, USA collection; ex-Eugene Lions collection, Geneve, Switzerland, 1960 to 2000; ex-Arte Primitivo, New York City, New York, USA
All items legal to buy/sell under U.S. Statute covering cultural patrimony Code 2600, CHAPTER 14, and are guaranteed to be as described or your money back.
A Certificate of Authenticity will accompany all winning bids.
PLEASE NOTE: Due to recent increases of shipments being seized by Australian & German customs (even for items with pre-UNESCO provenance),
we will no longer ship most antiquities and ancient Chinese art to Australia & Germany. For categories of items that are acceptable to ship to Australia, please contact us directly or work with your local customs brokerage firm.
#138961
Condition
Some minor loosening and fraying to peripheral and interior fibers, and light staining and fading to pigmentation, and small losses to areas of interior.