Lot 41D
Pre-Columbian, South Coast Peru, Huari/Wari, ca. 700 to 1000 CE. A very unusual piece from the ancient Huari/Wari peoples - components of a large scale used to weigh coca leaves - including two gilded copper weighing bowls perforated for suspension and a wood balance beam that is finely carved with a pair of mighty jaguars, both with spotted coats symbolic of the starry night (and by extension the otherworldly realm approached during hallucinogenic trancelike states via the ingestion of coca) with perforations for the suspension of weighing bowls on either end. Note that the wild felines are engaged in a dramatic face-off, leering at one another with wide staring eyes, their open mouths baring ferocious fangs and teeth, both with all paws firmly planted on the ground, arched backs, alert raised ears and tails, as if ready to attack! Custom stand. Size: bowls measure 4" in diameter (10.2 cm); wood beam measures 9" W (22.9 cm)
This scale has layers of iconographic meaning as the jaguar symbolized power and might throughout the Pre-Columbian world. Warriors, rulers, hunters, and shamans alike associated themselves with this king of beasts, the largest and most powerful feline in the New World. In fact, the principal god of another ancient Peruvian culture, the Moche, wears a headdress adorned with a jaguar head and paws and important mortals donned similar headdresses. A nocturnal animal, the jaguar sleeps in caves and dark places and creeps quietly in the forest, evoking great mystery. Oddly enough, few ancient Andean 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 rituals, and it is also possible that some jaguars wandered down the coast.
Provenance: private Hawaii, USA collection; ex-Ben Johnson Collection, Los Angeles, California, USA, former curator of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA)
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#123912
- Condition: Age cracks, minor losses, and wear to the wood beam. Nice age patina to the bowls with expected gilt losses, though much gilding remains, and nice green patina to areas of the exposed copper.
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