Lot of 2 Chavin Incised Bone Spatula Fragments

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Ancient / Ethnographic Art Through The Ages

By Artemis Gallery

Jan 7, 2021

Set Reminder 2021-01-07 10:00:00 2021-01-07 10:00:00 America/New_York Bidsquare Bidsquare : Ancient / Ethnographic Art Through The Ages https://www.bidsquare.com/auctions/artemis-gallery/ancient-ethnographic-art-through-the-ages-6258
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• Lot Description
  Pre-Columbian, North Coast Peru, Chavin, ca. 1200 to 500 BCE. A pair of hand-carved camelid (llama or alpaca) bone fragments that once made up part of an implement such as a spatula. Both display intricately carved relief motifs. The thinner, honey colored bone is a hollow tubular shape and displays a ferocious crouching creature, perhaps a jaguar, within the complex iconography. The wider bone section is creamy white with incised lines that form a partial head and face, possibly to represent a deity. Included is an original photograph of the lot with a 1968 date stamp. Size (narrow spatula): 5.625" L x .375" W (14.3 cm x 1 cm); (wider): 4.125" L x 1" W (10.5 cm x 2.5 cm)
  
  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 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 spatulas from bones, like these pieces, 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 New York City, New York, USA collection; ex-private lifetime collection of Dr. Saul Tuttman and Dr. Gregory Siskind, New York City, New York, USA, acquired in the 1960s
  
  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.
  
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  #161345

  Condition

  Both are fragments of a larger piece. Both are repaired from multiple pieces. Shorter spatula is repaired from 6 pieces with adhesive residue visible within break lines and losses to relief carvings. Narrow spatula is repaired from 7 pieces. Carved motifs are still visible with mineral deposits in recessed areas.
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