Description:

Pre-Columbian, South Coast Peru, Huari culture, ca. 700 CE-1000 CE. This superb example of Huari goldsmithing assumes the form of a plume with jaguar features created in repousse and silver danglers. Warriors, rulers, hunters, and shamans alike associated themselves with this king of beasts, the largest and most powerful feline in the New World. The principal god of the earlier Moche culture wears a headdress adorned with a jaguar head and paws and important mortals donned similar headdresses. This reverence for the jaguar would continue with the Huari culture. A nocturnal animal, the jaguar sleeps in caves and dark places and creeps quietly in the forest, evoking great mystery. Oddly enough, few 'Huari artists would have actually scene jaguars as they are not indigenous to the coast. Jaguars prefer moist forest conditions. However, scholars believe that some cubs were transported over the mountains for Andean rituals and it is also possible that some jaguars wandered down the coast. The animated visage and exaggerated features suggest that the artist who created this ornament may not have been working to achieve naturalistic representation but rather to evoke the powerful symbolism of the jaguar. Custom, museum-quality stand. 7-5/8"H x 3-1/2"W (without stand) 9-3/8"H x 4-1/2"W with stand

Provenance: Ex-Sotheby's; Ex-Lawrence Witten Collection, acquired 1960-1970.

All items in this auction are legal to buy/sell under U.S. statute covering cultural patrimony per United States Code 2600, CHAPTER 14 -- CONVENTION ON CULTURAL PROPERTY, and are guaranteed to be as described or your money back.

A Certificate of Authenticity will accompany all winning bids.

  • Condition: Normal oxidation on silver danglers. Else intact and near choice!

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June 13, 2014 9:00 AM MDT
Louisville, CO, US

Artemis Fine Arts

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Bid Increments
From: To: Increments:
$0 $299 $25
$300 $999 $50
$1,000 $1,999 $100
$2,000 $4,999 $250
$5,000 $9,999 $500
$10,000 $19,999 $1,000
$20,000 $49,999 $2,000
$50,000 $99,999 $5,000
$100,000 $199,999 $10,000
$200,000 + $25,000