Chancay Polychrome Female Figure, circa AD 1100 - 1400

Harmer Rooke Galleries, New York

Sotheby's, New York, November 5, 1980, lot 29, consigned by the above

Acquired at the above auction

The richly painted figures from the Central Coast, dubbed ‘tricolor”, are a special genre of the large bulbous bodied figural type. Here the deep reddish brown and black designs covering the figure illustrate her garment pattern of small abstract and zigzag elements, her legs are adorned with triple bands, her eyes are surrounded by an eye mask and her chin is decorated with tattoos. She wears a close-fitting cap and headband.

See Jose Antionio Lavalle and Werner Lang, Arte y Tesoros del Peru. Chancay, Lima, 1982, p. 85, for the type.