These ivory figurines may be high-status versions of the miniature clay examples that have been found in burial contexts throughout the Andean region of South America. The small and delicate male and female carvings are decorated with stone and shell inlays that suggest that they possibly functioned as treasured talismans or ritual offerings.


Estas figurillas de marfil pueden tratarse de versiones de alto rango de los ejemplos de miniaturas de barro que se han encontrado en contextos funerarios a través de la región Andina de Sudamérica. Los pequeños y delicados tallados masculino y femenino están decorados con incrustaciones de piedra y concha, sugiriendo que tuvieron una función como amuletos atesorados o como ofrendas rituales.

Gift of the Ernest Erickson Foundation, Inc.

Frank Sherman Benson Fund and the Henry L. Batterman Fund

The delicately modeled ceramic figurine is Jaina in style and reveals the upper part of a figure emerging from a water lily. The figure is red with ornaments (necklace, earrings, and headdress) in cream color. The tip of the headdress is blue. There are other trace amounts of blue on the stem and petals of the flower. The figure's arms are folded across the waist. The flower has three pointed petals: one is in the front-center section, turned downward, exposing the inside texture of the lily that is handled with an application of clay dots; a second stands upward in the back, enveloping the figure; and a third stands upward on the proper left side of the lily. Because the water lily is associated with the Underworld in Maya cosmology, this figurine may symbolize the renewal of life after death. Condition; good; there are two repaired breaks in the stem and two repaired breaks in the headdress. There are also two broken edges at the proper right side of the blue central portion of the headdress, probably where two appliquéd segments had been attached.

Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Tessim Zorach

Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Tessim Zorach

Mummy mask of woven cotton, filled with cotton padding, and painted with features of the Oculate Being, two felines, and three double-headed snakes. Size: adult. Probable wearer: likely male. Vertical cotton warp. Cotton weft. Plain weave, predominantly warp-faced. Pigments with binding medium, hand-drawn.

Ella C. Woodward Memorial Fund

Face neck jar with polychrome decoration on red-brown slip. The vessel is bottle-shaped with a bulbous body and a tall, narrow neck. The neck is decorated with a modeled human face with a feline figure painted on the nose and two condors painted below the eyes representing tear lines. The body of the jar is decorated with a standing male figure wearing an elaborate tunic and holding a staff in each hand. One staff is surmounted by a bird head, while the other is surmounted by an ear of corn. The man's face, which is in profile, is decorated with painted geometrical designs and an ear of corn hangs from the front of his headdress. Condition: good. Text by GdeH 9/2011: In the Andes, maize did not have as pronounced a ritual significance. The main function has been its transformation into chica, a ceremonial drink of significant alcoholic content still produced and used for ritual events and feasts. During pre-Columbian times, corn, along with cotton, was the basis of trade between the coastal lowlands and the high altitude areas of Peru which provided potatoes and wool. This face neck jar has been made by a highland civilization, the Wari, who were active around present day Arequipa, but its imagery includes corn, a coastal element. The figure on this jar is a man of high status as indicated by the designs on his tunic. An ear of corn dangles from his headdress, and another adorns the tip of one of his staffs. Images of condors and felines that can be seen on his face are typically associated with power, and from these clues, it is possible to say that this figure’s imagery relating to corn is evidence of its importance to the Wari people.

Gift of Mrs. Minor C. Keith in memory of her husband