**Originally Listed At $800**
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
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 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 or Germany, please contact us directly or work with your local customs brokerage firm.
Display stands not described as included/custom in the item description are for photography purposes only and will not be included with the item upon shipping.
#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.