A Salinar Mace Head ...

Description

A Salinar Mace Head
Peru, c. 200 BC-300 AD, Early Horizon-Early Intermediate Period

Dark gray stone carved with vertical ribs and spikes. In good condition, extreme tips of three spikes deficient, as well as the proper right side of one spike. Chip on two spikes, one with smooth surface suggesting it is original to the piece. Small chip in perimeter of base.

Finely crafted mace heads, like this one, are artifacts among the most characteristic of the Salinar culture. Given the absence of metal tools, these stone works were produced by painstaking pecking, abrading and polishing. They were typically fashioned from diorite, an extremely hard igneous rock. Most have a circular socket drilled up their central core to facilitate hafting on a wooden shaft or staff. Although the vertical ribs and spikes are decorative, there is no doubt that such mace heads were lethal weapons.

Provenance:
Private Collection, New York
Acquired by the current collection in 1991
James Economos Works of Art, Santa Fe, NM
Arte Textil, San Francisco

Exhibited and published:
Ancient Forms for the Modern Eye, Colnaghi Gallery, New York, 2018, item IV, page 12. The e-catalog with a forward by Dr. Carlos A. Picon.

Height: 4 inches

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