Shamans, Supernaturals & Animal Spirits: Mythic Figures From the Ancient Andes

238
Tassel or Figurine
Fierce Face
Central Coast culture
AD 1000-1476
Cotton, camelid wool; plain weave, looping,
embroidery?
6½" x 3¾"
The elaborately worked textile embellishments applied to
Chimú ceremonial garments usually depict generic faces
and figures. However, many such stylized motifs have subtle
characteristics that communicate a certain individualism—if
not of the image, then of the weaver artist who conceived and
executed it.
For example, the dangling earflaps attached to a comical woven
face (cat. 239, opposite) may represent ears, hair braids or the
important crescent headdress displayed by supernatural and
elite personages.
Similarly, an unfinished or fragmentary head (which might
have formed part of a tiered tassel or small fiber figurine) has
a conspicuous mouth filled with pointed black-and-white
crocodilian teeth (cat. 238, at left).
The face shows a striking resemblance to several Chavínera
images of supernatural beings found on the central coast,
including a sacred puppet-like effigy with movable limbs that
may have been used in rituals. 1 Thus what appears to be a
minor detail on a small decorative object reveals the continuity
of aesthetic and symbolic ideas in this region.
1 Richard Burger, “A Sacred Effigy from Mina Perdida and the unseen ceremonies of
the Peruvian Formative,” Res 33: 18-53.
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