Long spear. Shaft is made from a light grass material, maintaining diameter until its proximal end where it narrows to join with the spear neck. Strands of fibre are wound tightly many times around the connection, as well as at the shaft’s distal end. Remnants of glue here indicate further fibre wrappings. Spear neck is of a dark brown wood, while head is made of a lighter wood and lashed to neck with fibre. Head takes a leaf shape, flared at centre, narrowing to a pointed tip, concave on one side where it is painted black with box designs at centre. Opposite is decorated with a line of ‘v’ and diamond shaped designs. Remnants of red and yellow feathers can be seen in the lashing of head and neck. Neck holds several sets of engraved encircling lines.

Clay pot. Vessel has a small, flat, round base, from which the body flares to a bulbous belly and then inclines to a tall, narrower neck with slightly flared rim. Exterior bottom of body is painted dark orange, while above the bowl is a light yellow with fine linear designs in black, representing the Shipibo concept of the interconnectivity of the universe. Occasional shapes in orange appear among the designs. The interior of the bowl is unpainted.

Round clay bowl. Vessel has a small round base, from which the body flares widely toward the midpoint. Bowl inclines from midpoint to mouth. Exterior below midpoint is painted in two shades of orange, glazed. Above, bowl is painted a light yellow with a fine, lightly incised linear design representing the Shipibo concept of the interconnectivity of the universe. Some lines are emphasized with dark brown paint, and occasional orange blocks of colour appear among the designs. The interior of the bowl is raw, painted sparsely in thick white and orange lines similar to those on the exterior.

Large clay pot. Vessel has a small round base, slightly concave, from which the body flares widely to a bulbous belly, then inclining to a tall, sloped neck with slightly flared rim. Bottom of body is unpainted, while midpoint is painted in blocks of light yellow and dark brown. Shoulder and neck hold linear designs in dark brown that represent the Shipibo concept of the interconnectivity of the universe. The rim and interior are painted dark brown.

Headband (part of a girl’s costume, with 3052/1-8). A thin metal wire is wrapped with brown paper and covered with a variety of stiffened flowers in red, blue, pink and white, interspersed with green leaves. Each red flower has a centre of black wool with spots of white paint, while white flowers have centres made of yellow wool. The wire band is bendable.

Dance belt. Consists of central wooden plaque (part a), slightly concave, and two separate flat pieces that sit on the right (part b) and on the left (part c). Central portion is frontal face with clenched teeth and bulging eyes. Sides pieces are carved with serpent-like heads with protruding tongues, seen in profile. Pieces may originally have been joined with cloth strips. Metal loops on the back of each panel for hanging.

Triple whistle made of three single whistle parts of equal length which are now rebound as two separate pieces (parts a-b). Part a consists of two parts bound together with cord; part b is the third matching part from the other side, which is now detached. The outer pieces are rectangular in cross section while the middle piece is square in cross section. All three pieces are bound with cord near their outer ends and middle. Upper portions of each whistle are painted blue, as is the binding at that end. The middle and left side pieces (part a) are bound together at their tapered ends with white cord. The right side piece (part b) shows past evidence (indented cord marks) of being bound at the end. While the wider end is solid on each piece, there are hollowed areas through each tapered end, through to the cut out rectangular holes.

Gift of Victor P. Nunez

Gift of Victor P. Nunez

Gift of Victor P. Nunez