Description:

Pre-Columbian, Peru, Inca Empire, ca. 1470 to 1532 CE. A pair of carved anthropomorphic idols, both nude women. Each has a head oversized for her body, her eyes wide and staring and her hair long, straight, and pulled back. She stands with her arms crossed over her body. One is made of a pretty salmon pink and white shell, the other of copper. When first made, both would have been dressed in textiles, and then deposited alongside other offerings and human sacrifices as part of the Inca ceremony known as capac hucha (also capacocha or qhapaq hucha), which was performed to mark the death of a ruler, the accession of a new ruler, or other major events. Size of one (they are similar in size): 0.5" W x 1.55" H (1.3 cm x 3.9 cm); 3.95" H (10 cm) on included custom stand.

Stylistically very similar to this silver-gold alloy figure of a woman at the Metropolitan Museum of Art: https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/317753

Provenance: private Hawaii, USA collection; ex Lodi collection, Pasadena, California, USA

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#132528

  • Condition: Nice patina from age and handling on both, with well preserved details.

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November 8, 2018 7:00 AM MST
Louisville, CO, US

Artemis Fine Arts

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