Lot 59
Pre-Columbian, Peru, Chimu, ca. 1000 to 1450 CE. A dazzling necklace comprised of 15 silver hummingbirds and dozens of silver and shell discoid beads, all strung on a modern monofilament strand with a barrel clasp to be wearable. To the ancients of the Pre-Columbian world, hummingbirds were associated with the sun. Appreciated for their shiny, iridescent feathering and aerial acrobatics, hummingbirds made for ideal solar metaphors. Since these birds are known to hover, seemingly motionless, and fly up, down and even backwards, the ancients likened their motions to that of the sun's hovering in the sky at the solstices when it is also known to reverse its celestial direction. Size of hummingbird (all about the same): 1.1" L x 0.3" W (2.8 cm x 0.8 cm); of strand: 21.5" L (54.6 cm); silver quality: 96.4% with trace amounts of gold; total weight: 50.2 grams
In addition, hummingbirds can assume a torpid state when it is cold at night or during brief periods in the winter. However, they come back to life in the spring warmth. This unique ability to "die" and "resurrect" signified rebirth to the ancients of the Americas, precisely at a time when planting and, in this sense, "renewed life" occurred. How magical!
Provenance: ex-Pepe Schaefer collection, La Quinta, California, USA, gifted in 1984 by Bosta Seminarao , Santa Rosa, California, USA, imported into the US 1955 or earlier
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#178257
- Condition: Ancient beads and birds strung on a modern monofilament strand with a barrel clasp to be wearable. Some small fissures to petite beads, as well as some nicks, minor chips, and abrasions throughout, all commensurate with age. Otherwise, intact, excellent, and wearable with liberal remaining detail and light patina to surface.
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