Cuchimilco Adorant divine companion figure 

You are bidding on a ceramic figure of the Chancay culture, actually a pair of figures; that culture stretched north of today's Lima in pre-Columbian times. In my eyes, as a long-time collector, these figures are wrongly mostly underestimated because of their idiosyncratic appearance and their unmistakable design. The colors are mostly eggshell white and dark brown grey and the proportions of the bodies are strongly stylized, but despite all of this, they are always easy to recognize and classify. This pair of figures is usually described as a mother with a child, which I don't quite agree with. Most of the grave goods for their owner also have a mythological side in addition to the secular side. On closer inspection, it becomes apparent that the large figure is actually a multisexual deity who carries the owner into the other life or into the other world. In addition to the protective arm position, you can see implied breasts, but also a beard and facial tattoos, the face shows no man or wowan signs. The large tattoos around the eyes are a reminder of caution and foresight and are probably drugged to see the next world. The extra large ears also show how the sense of hearing should be increased. A human ideal of beauty and based on divinity are the upwardly deformed heads that can be found in many pre-Columbian cultures, up to the Mayans in Central America. The figure hangs on its back as a companion around this macabre ideal of beauty (here is Conehead). As we know it, mothers carry their children in shawls on their backs and do not have to "ride". Symbolically and superhumanly, the figure has extremely long arms on its back, so the potter certainly had no baby or child in mind when he formed the figure. The condition is good considering the age, part of an arm is lost, otherwise the typical signs of the time, see the pictures, but well.

Since the shape and color of the Chancay ceramics do not match the other pre-Inca cultures at all, I am often asked where the influence comes from? I can be comfortable with an explanation, for there are similar figures in the northern and central coastal regions of the Atlantic coast of pre-Columbian cultures, which presumably migrated westward into the Moche-Chimu region. They are also painted white, but often with reddish patterns, but the Chancay also occasionally have reddish patterns on white. The highly stylized design of the figures also resembles the figures of the regions described. It remains exciting.... 

A very beautiful and typical Chancay piece with a mythological and spiritual message and for all those who want to have a mother with a child, this is also an OK description!

Part of Hirsch Auction Munich 2019.

Culture: Chancay

Age: 600 years old, TL tested, new original Test Document 2021 inclusive!

Tall approx.: 6” in