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HOME :
Pre-Columbian Art :
Chimu Art : Chimu Greyware Stirrup Vessel in the Form of a Seated Male
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Chimu Greyware Stirrup Vessel in the Form of a Seated Male - PF.1879
Origin: Northern Coast of Peru
Circa: 800
AD
to 1200
AD
Dimensions:
6.75" (17.1cm) high
Catalogue: V5
Collection: Pre-Columbian
Style: Chimu
Medium: Terracotta
$8,600.00
Location: United States
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| Description |
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The Chimu culture arose around 800 A.D. and
flourished until the Incan conquest about six
hundred years later. Their civilization was
centered at their capital Chan Chan, about 300
miles north of Lima, literally meaning “Sun Sun,”
the largest Pre-Columbian city in Peru estimated
to contain almost one hundred thousand citizens.
The Chimu believed the sea, which they called
“Ni,” was the origin of life, a theory also
proposed by modern science and evolution.
Thanks to their sea-faring skills, the Chimu were
able to survive, nestled in between the desert
and the sea. The sea was everything to them: an
endless supply of food and the source of
inspiration for their most imaginative myths,
legends, and artwork. Agriculture was also vital,
and the Chimu drew up a vast number of
irrigation works demonstrating immense
engineering skill, some of which are still in use
today. Today, aside from the astounding mud
ruins of Chan Chan remarkably well preserved in
the heat of the desert, the Chimú are perhaps
best known for their distinctive black glazed
pottery influenced by their predecessors: the
Moche.
The artists of ancient Peru recorded daily life
with great accuracy and detail. In the absence of
written records, the ceramic legacy provides an
insightful glimpse into the customs and
problems of this vanished world. To the modern
eye, some of these images pose more of a
mystery than a solution. Gestures and details are
open to interpretation, the symbolic meaning is
elusive. This exquisite figure has an impressive
demeanor, alert and determined. The artist has
emphasized the right hand gripping the left
shoulder, and has shown a number or raised
nodes on his knees. Is this an attitude of prayer?
An indication of some medical condition? If the
facts are unclear, lost to the centuries, the
elegant beauty of this piece remains obvious.
- (PF.1879)
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