Pre-Columbian, North Coast Peru, Sican / Lambayeque culture, ca. 750 to 1370 CE. A wonderful 99.5% copper ceremonial disk adorned with an openwork oracle spider or scorpion featuring eight slender legs, a broad body that tapers to a pointed tail that curves upwards, and a sizable anthropomorphic head. The creature's intriguing visage displays annular eyes, a pointed nose, an open mouth in an "o" shape, and a pair of bulbous cheeks. The ancients of Peru utilized spiders and insectile soothsayers - hence the name "oracle spiders" - by letting them scurry across ceremonial textiles so shamans could interpret their movements and divine the future. Size: 4" in diameter (10.2 cm); 5.125" H (13 cm) on included custom stand.
Provenance: private Hawaii, USA collection; ex-Hirsch collection, Germany, 1950 to 1960
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#162972
Condition
Collection label on side. Repair to one leg of oracle spider. Two fissures to thin circular border and a few other minor stable fissures to openwork motif. Softening of detail commensurate with age. Otherwise, very nice with lovely seafoam green patina.