Chancay post. Pre-Columbian America, Chancay culture, ca. 1200-1470 A.D.

Chancay post. Pre-Columbian America, Chancay culture, ca. 1200-1470 A.D.
Wood and bone.
Provenance: acquired in 1965.
Measurements: 50 x 25 x 10 cm.

Chancay ritual post made of wood, with bone applications in the eyes and incised details on the body. The piece presents an elongated and frontal form, with a schematic face of great expressiveness, elevated ears and a marked formal simplification characteristic of the Chancay visual language.

The combination of wood, clear inlays and remains of polychrome gives the object an intense presence, between anthropomorphic and totemic. This type of post has been related to funerary and ceremonial contexts, where the wooden figures could act as guardians, markers or symbolic presences associated with the world of the ancestors.

Its fragmentary state reinforces the archaeological character of the piece and allows us to appreciate the ancient materiality of the wood. An object of strong evocative power, testimony of the ritual and symbolic richness of the Chancay culture on the central coast of ancient Peru.