Published Head Vase of the Chancay Culture

Culture: Peru/Chancay Culture

Period: 1200-1450 A.D.

Material: Terrakotta

Dimensions: 24 cm high

Price: 2 400 Euro

Ref: 11023

Provenance: Austrian private collection Prof. Josef Mairitsch (1938-1994) with the inventory number M 137. Acquired between 1960 and the early 1980s. Thence in the family estate. With a collection note and a copy of the catalogue page.

Condition: Some minor wear on the rim and on the vessel’s edge, which by no means influences the intense expression of this vase. Otherwise intact

Description: Important, hand formed terracotta head vase of the Peruan Chancay culture with an expressive face of a woman chewing coca. The crème coloured vase with a biconical body on a set off foot ring, which is decorated with ribs at the bottom. The neck is constricted and forms at the same time the neck of the woman’s head whose details are meticulously decorated with black-brown color. The woman has inflated, with line patterns highlighted cheeks and a protruding, small mouth. She chews coca leaves. Her eyes bulging due to the intoxicating effect of the plant. She wears a cylindrical headdress, which is held by an abundantly decorated filet over her forehead. This filet runs behind the protruding, spoon-like ears to the back and ends in a bag, which probably serves to collect coca. Her tattooed arms on both sides lead to the forehead to fix the filet. They serve as the handle of the vessel at the same time. See for the type the nearly identical vase in the Metropolitan Museum in New York with the object number 66.30.17 and the example in the British Museum with the Registration Number Am1983,03.1. Published in: “Columbus am Wörthersee. Amerika vor Columbus.” Catalogue for the special exhibition of the cultural department of the state capital Klagenfurt from 1 June to 31 October 1992, p. 38, no. 1.10.