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THBMoche Fineline Pottery Vessel w/ Monkeys & Ceremony, TL
Lot 155
About Seller
Artemis Gallery
686 S Taylor Ave, Ste 106
Louisville, CO 80027
United States
Selling antiquities, ancient and ethnographic art online since 1993, Artemis Gallery specializes in Classical Antiquities (Egyptian, Greek, Roman, Near Eastern), Asian, Pre-Columbian, African / Tribal / Oceanographic art. Our extensive inventory includes pottery, stone, metal, wood, glass and textil...Read more
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About Auction
Live
By Artemis Gallery
May 20, 2021
Set Reminder
2021-05-20 10:00:00
2021-05-20 10:00:00
America/New_York
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Bidsquare : Ancient & Ethnographic From Around The World
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Ancient art from Egypt, Greece, Italy and the Near East, as well as Asian, Fossils, Pre-Columbian, Native American, African / Tribal / Oceanic, Fine art, and much more! All categories, all price ranges... all legally acquired and guaranteed to be as described or your money back. Artemis Gallery info@artemisgallery.com
Ancient art from Egypt, Greece, Italy and the Near East, as well as Asian, Fossils, Pre-Columbian, Native American, African / Tribal / Oceanic, Fine art, and much more! All categories, all price ranges... all legally acquired and guaranteed to be as described or your money back. Artemis Gallery info@artemisgallery.com
View Full Catalog (343)
- Lot Description
Pre-Columbian, Peru (North Coast), Moche Culture, ca. 100 to 700 CE. A rare and exceptional pottery vessel presenting the relief image of a monkey on its shoulder and adorned with an intricately painted image of several monkeys gathering ulluchu, a sacred fruit of the Moche, for 5 humans below them. Boasting hues of burnt sienna, orange, and cream beneath a lustrous burnish, the marvelous jar presents a globular body, a rounded shoulder, a narrow neck, and an annular rim. As monkeys were trained by the Moche to climb trees, pick ulluchu fruit, and place them into the bag before scampering down, here one can see a dozen monkeys climbing through the sinuous and spiraling branches of 3 ulluchu trees, both gathering and eating the sacred fruit. Below them, a person assembles 3 bags of ulluchu and uses a stick to either attempt at knocking more fruits down from the tree or coax his simian helpers. Next to him, a man dressed as a warrior is seated, bearing a worried expression on his face. A tree separates him from a figure in an anthropomorphic costume, possibly of a lizard, preparing a drink from the ulluchu. After the last tree, an ithyphallic figure in elaborate attire lays above a nude, reclined figure. The dressed figure appears to be serving their nude partner an ulluchu fruit. Size: 8" W x 10" H (20.3 cm x 25.4 cm)
How does one make sense of this image? One answer: ulluchu. Ulluchu was an essential part of Moche sacrificial ceremonies. First, it was known to be an anticoagulant and, thus, prevented the blood of a human sacrifice from clotting before it was consumed, as the Moche traditionally drank the blood of vanquished warriors, or ceremoniously spread on an altar for a Moche Lord. The masked figure who sits and holds a cup may very well be mixing the victim's blood with ulluchu to prepare it for consumption. Secondly, ulluchu is also known to cause dilation of blood vessels and higher blood pressure and therefore aided in the extraction of sacrificial blood. This indicates that the anthropomorphically dressed figure could be preparing an ulluchu beverage for a victim. Additionally, ulluchu's function as a vasodilator naturally allowed it to produce male erections, which explains the ithyphallic figure and implies that the last 2 figures are likely copulating as a result of ulluchu consumption.
This piece has been tested using thermoluminescence (TL) analysis and has been found to be ancient and of the period stated. A full report will accompany purchase.
Provenance: ex-Stein collection, Bloomfield Hills, Michigan, USA, acquired November 30, 2012; ex-Lost World Artifacts, Acworth, Georgia, 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.
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#163968TL holes to interior of rim, neck, base of neck, and base. Repair to rim with restoration over break lines. Restoration to monkey's face. Some abrasions and minor nicks, commensurate with age. Otherwise, excellent with impressive remaining pigments and detail.Condition
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