Description:

Pre-Columbian, Central Coast Peru, Chimu, ca. 1100 to 1470 CE. A wooden figure of a man standing nude displaying a slender body with slightly bent legs, prominent genitalia, and arms akimbo. Supported by broad shoulders, his giant head features a minimalist visage comprised of amygdaloid eyes beneath a heavy brow, a slender nose, and a petite smile. A pair of incised striations underline his eyes, suggestive of advancing age, while red and black pigments adorn his head and groin. Size: 4.2" W x 13.6" H (10.7 cm x 34.5 cm); 14.8" H (37.6 cm) on included custom stand.

According to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, "The Chimu flourished between ca. A.D. 1000 and 1470, when they were conquered by the Incas. At their height, they dominated some 800 miles of Peru's arid North Coast. The dry conditions of this coastal desert allows for the preservation of organic materials such as wood and cloth - materials that in most other parts of the Americas would not have survived centuries exposed to the elements or buried in the ground. Figural sculptures made of wood were installed at entrances to buildings on the North Coast, including the palaces of Chan Chan, the capital of the Chimu kingdom (see MMA.1979.206.774). Such figures have also been found in tombs, including a pair found in a burial dated to the Chimú-Inca period (A.D. 1470-1532) at Samanco, in the Nepeña Valley (Helmer 2015:fig. 4.22)."

Cf. Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1979.206.346.

Provenance: private Hawaii, USA collection; ex-private Hans Juergen Westermann collection, Germany, collected from 1950 to 1960s

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#110354

  • Condition: Loss to proper right foot. Some stable stress fissures, as well as expected light surface wear. Otherwise, excellent with nice pigments.

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