Chancay Large Vessel | Applied Monkey. Painted Eye Motif

Pre-Columbian, Peru, Chancay, ca. 800–1200 CE. A monkey clings to the shoulder of this imposing ovoid jar, modeled in the round and set within a painted roundel as though caught mid-meal. The bulbous buff-ware body carries opposing loop-strap handles and a short flaring collar banded with fine geometric register. One face is dressed in cream slip and ruled with dark chocolate verticals alternating with tremulous zigzag lines; the opposing face is washed solid brown, relieved only by a serrated triangular panel enclosing a single concentric eye. Vessels of this scale served as chicha or storage jars, and the eye motif, staring out from an otherwise blank field, likely gave the container a watchful presence. Raised on a metal tripod ring base. Size: 15" Diam x 19" H (38.1 cm Diam x 48.3 cm H).

The Chancay flourished along the central Peruvian coast in the valleys of Chancay, Chillon, and Huaura during the Late Intermediate Period, filling the political vacuum left by the collapse of the Wari state. Their potters worked at a scale rivaled by few of their neighbors, building large vessels by coil and paddle and finishing them in a limited palette of dark brown-black on cream, the ware conventionally called black-on-white. Decoration was applied quickly and rhythmically: fields of vertical lines, undulating zigzags, lattices, and rows of small birds or fish, brushed with a freedom that sets Chancay work apart from the tighter draughtsmanship of Moche or Nasca ceramics.

Monkeys appear across coastal Andean art as visitors from the eastern forests, exotic animals traded across the sierra and associated with abundance, mischief, and fertility. Modeled and applied to the shoulder of a jar rather than painted, this one converts a storage form into a small stage. Large ovoid jars of this type are recovered from Chancay cemeteries, where they accompanied the dead as containers for maize beer and provisions.

Provenance: Private Danish collection. Item # 1507. Acquired 1970’s. Imported to USA., mid 1990’s.

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Item #

73205

Condition
Intact, excellent condition.

Buyer's Premium
30%