Wooden strut with figural finial ·  Peru, northern coast, Chancay · ID: 3038626

Description

wood, matt dark brown patina, fragmentary staff with three square holes, old collection numbers handwritten in white paint “S-30” and “GPI/60”, remains of an old paper label as well, base;
for a long time such staffs were thought to be weaving parts (uprights for a loom). Possibly they served as uprights for carrycots. Cords would have been passed through the holes to form a trellis to support the child. They might have been previously used in the construction of the back of a litter. Of course, no interpretation is really satisfying when not supported by an archeological context.

The object Wooden strut with figural finial with the object ID 3038626 was last part of the auction 80th Tribal Art Auction at June 27, 2015 on Zemanek-Münster Auction house and had the lot number 137.

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Comparing literature

Purini, Sergio & André Emmerich, La sculpture en bois dans l'ancien Pérou, Paris 2006, ill. 42