Chavin Blackware Vessel - Transforming Jaguar Shaman

Pre-Columbian, North Coast Peru, Larredo-Trujillo, Chavin, ca. 400 to 200 BCE. An extremely rare blackware vessel, its surface decorated with broad-line incisions that depict two abstract glyphs representing a shaman head dramatically changing into a jaguar visage - or possibly the important Chavin deity Lanzon who possessed an anthropomorphic body with a jaguar head. The shoulders and other areas of the body are lightly cross-hatched, giving the vessel's surface a nice contrast between smooth and rough. Such imagery combining wild felines and anthropomorphic forms is characteristic of the Chavin. This vessel would have been used to hold offerings in the grave for the Chavin deceased. Size: 4.65" W x 8.4" H (11.8 cm x 21.3 cm)

The broad line incised design is stylistically related to a vase and bowl found by Lumbreras in the Ofrendas Galleries at Chavin. (See Lumbreras 1970: 150 and 1971: fig. 2.) These types of vessels - fired at a very high temperature using metallic minerals on the surface - exist in very few collections as they differ from the Chavin vessels found in the far north of Peru.

Lumbreras, Luis Guillermo. "Los Templos de Chavin", Proyecto Chavín de Investigaciones Arqueologicas, 1970.

Provenance: private Hawaii, USA collection; ex-private Hans Juergen Westermann collection, Germany, collected from 1950-1960s

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#151849 Dimensions: Condition Report: Repaired and restored from multiple pieces; this is expertly done and almost indiscernible. Light deposits on lower profile areas.