Description:

Pre-Columbian, Peru, Sihuas Valley culture, ca. 400 to 700 CE. A figural poporo, a vessel for holding ground lime as part of ritual drug use. This example is in the form of a seated monkey who holds a large kero in his lap. His face is somewhat frightening, with enormous round eyes and a mouth full of teeth that are aggressively bared. His body is carved to give him tiny arms and legs that wrap around the kero and a long, thin, curled tail that lays against his back. The kero is large, with incised lines creating dense surface decoration. Lime has been put into the lower profile areas of the kero and around the monkey's eyes to add pigment to the vessel. The head is detachable, forming a lid. Size: 1.5" W x 2" H (3.8 cm x 5.1 cm)

A poporo is a container for lime used in the ingestion of coca leaves. From the earliest times, people in the Andes had a tradition of using coca leaves for ritual purposes. They were ingested by placing some of the leaves in the mouth and adding a small quantity of powdered lime, ground from seashells. The poporo was often elaborately conceived, with figural form. Monkey iconography in the Andes was associated with coca and snuff rituals. Some researchers have suggested that, because monkeys and some forms of the drug came from the Amazon Basin, they were culturally associated. For example, there are many depictions on pottery vessels of monkeys holding some kind of drug paraphernalia - a coca bag or a poporo.

Provenance: private Hawaii, USA collection; ex-Butterfields (Bonhams)

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#123570

  • Condition: Patina on surface from age and wear.

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

Artemis Fine Arts

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