Description:

Pre-Columbian, North Coast Peru, Inca, ca. 1200 to 1500 CE. A rare matched pair of redware pottery scepters - both featuring applied simian creatures and openwork cross and circular motifs on the handles - only one presents a phallic shape and the other, with its concave terminus is of the female persuasion. Monkeys and other simian creatures will forever fascinate us as we see their antics as a parody of ourselves. In the monkey's faces, animated postures, and gregarious nature, we have a mirror of human behavior that people throughout time have found fascinating. What's more, in the Pre-Columbian world, monkeys were believed to mediate between man and the supernatural. A special pair of ceremonial implements that given their allusions to the male and female realms were probably used in fertility and/or marriage rituals. Size: male scepter measures 6" H (15.2 cm)

Provenance: private Andrade collection New York, NY, USA acquired 1960's; ex-Knoedler & Company

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#131540

  • Condition: Chips to peripheries, especially the rim and base of female scepter. Otherwise just minor surface wear and overall very good.

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March 1, 2018 7:00 AM MST
Louisville, CO, US

Artemis Fine Arts

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