Rare Chavin Incised Sodalite Drug Mortars (5)

Lot 42

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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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Pre-Columbian | Tribal | Ethnographic by Artemis Gallery

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Pre-Columbian | Tribal | Ethnographic

By Artemis Gallery

Apr 25, 2019

Set Reminder 2019-04-25 10:00:00 2019-04-25 10:00:00 America/New_York Bidsquare Bidsquare : Pre-Columbian | Tribal | Ethnographic https://www.bidsquare.com/auctions/artemis-gallery/pre-columbian-tribal-ethnographic-4035 Featuring ancient and ethnographic art from around the world, including Pre-Columbian, Native American, African / Tribal, Ethnographic, Spanish Colonial, Fossils, Fine Art, much more. Artemis Gallery info@artemisgallery.com

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Lot Description

Pre-Columbian, north coast of Peru, Chavin culture, ca. 900 to 200 BCE. A beautiful set of deep, deep blue - almost black - sodalite drug mortars, each a small cylindrical vessel with a wider band around its upper center. This band is decorated with incised motifs, different on each - one featuring diagonal lines, another with mountain-like triangles with circles, and the other with three variations on similar forms. Each has a faint deposit of cinnabar in its interior, and shows signs of having been scraped out with a pestle. Displayed together on a nice custom stand with a pyramidal form. Size of one (they are all very similar in size): 1" W x 1.1" H (2.5 cm x 2.8 cm); 3.2" H (8.1 cm) on included custom stand.

The consumption of drugs was crucial to the Chavin religion. In 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, a human body, and eyebrows and hair made of snakes. This is Lanzon, the chief deity of Chavin. Researchers believe that worshippers ingested hallucinogenic drugs, prepared using mortars like these, 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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#141261

Condition

All are intact. Light deposits of cinnabar on interiors of each. Small scratches indicative of use on the interiors as well.
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