**Originally Listed at $400**

Pre-Columbian, Northern Peru, Vicus culture, 200 BCE to 600 CE. A large, double-chambered pottery vessel connected by a curved, flat handle and a narrow cylinder. One chamber has a tall, thin spout; the other is topped by a figure shown with huge nose, coffee-bean eyes, and a crown-like headdress. Size: 10.8" L x 4" W x 7.7" H (27.4 cm x 10.2 cm x 19.6 cm)

The figure holds what looks like a ceremonial mace and has something large and circular attached to his arm. Drilled holes in the figure's nose and ears may have once held gold jewelry. Vicus ceramics were influenced by the Gallizano and Salinar cultures, north in Ecuador. What was the purpose of a vessel like this? We believe that it and ones like it played a role in funerary culture, as grave offerings, and in feasting, to drink ritual liquids. It may also have been also used in funerary feasting, a practice known from the ancient Andes, where the remains of ancestors were brought out to be feasted with on important days.

Provenance: Ex-Bill Freeman collection acquired in the early 1980's

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#117889

Crack to base of one of the chambers.