Description:

Pre-Columbian, Southern Peru or Chile, Paracas or proto-Nazca culture, ca. 500 to 300 BCE. A rare, round wooden tray for ingesting snuff, with an abstract zoomorphic border depicting four jaguars whose bodies are serpent-like, curling around the edges of the bowl so that their tails meet. The eyes, nostrils, and tails of the jaguars are each inlaid with orange and red discs carved from Spondylus shell. Size: 6.5" W (16.5 cm)

Little is known about the Paracas people, and what little we do know comes from a 1920s archaeological excavation of the Paracas Cavernas, shaft tombs containing multiple burials, many of which had grave goods like this one, given to provision the dead in the afterlife. This item represents the drug paraphernalia employed by many people in the Atacama Desert region of ancient Chile. Wooden snuff trays like this one are found in burials alongside tubes for inhaling, spatulas, mortars and pestles, and other items for the ingestion of snuff. The mixture, prepared from resin, leaves, and ground seeds, was used in part to induce a hallucinogenic state for shamanic ritual.

The feline is the most pervasive animal in ancient Peruvian art, associated symbolically with military, religious, and political leaders. The jaguar, which in life hunts by jumping at the head of its prey, may have been a symbol of decapitation - another recurring theme in the ancient Andes.

Provenance: private Hawaii, USA collection; ex-Westermann collection, Germany

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#123552

  • Condition: Patina from touch/age on the surface, with some light scoring/wear. Crack on one side as shown.

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May 25, 2017 8:00 AM MDT
Louisville, CO, US

Artemis Fine Arts

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