Chancay Pottery Effigy Llama Figure

Pre-Columbian era, Chancay culture, 1000-1470AD, Peru.

Magnificent, unpolished and hand-modelled pottery effigy figure in the shape of a standing Llama. Erect head, pointy ears and tail raised on four knob feet with stubby legs. The effigy is further embellished with slightly curving horizontal stripes in a rich chocolate brown pigment on a creamy white ground. The Chancay were a pre-Columbian archaeological civilization which developed between the valleys of Fortaleza, Pativilca, Supe, Huaura, Chancay, Chillón, Rimac and Lurin, on the central coast of Peru from c. 1000AD-1470AD. The Chancay culture is defined archaeologically by a distinctive and homogeneous ceramic style. These ceramics are known from extensive cemeteries in the Chancay region, where they were included in burials as grave goods. They are generally made of a peculiarly gritty clay that leaves an unpolished matte surface. Over this is painted a white slip, decorated with black or dark brown designs. 

Excellent condition. No repairs or restorations. Abrasion and minor pitting, all commensurate with age. Encrustation and dust. Size approx. 14,7cm x 5,2cm x 6,0cm. 

Provenance: Former collection of the archaeologist Ferdinand Anton, Germany, combined between 1950 and 1965. Ferdinand Anton was born in 1929 in Munich, Germany. He made a living by writing richly illustrated books about the art objects and religious rituals of Pre-Columbian cultures: the Aztecs, the Maya, and Andean peoples of South America. He was an explorer who flew to South America and Mexico, and hiked to remote shrines where few Westerners had set foot. He wrote more than forty books.

For a similar examples see:

Figure of a llama, The Baltimore Museum of Art, Accession Number: 1989.192 (https://collection.artbma.org/objects/21789/figure-of-a-llama)

Llama Effigy, Michael C. Carlos Museum of Emory University, Accession Number: 1989.008.003 (https://collections.carlos.emory.edu/objects/3041/llama-effigy)