47200

Chimú Copper Tumi

Currency:USD Category:Art Start Price:300.00 USD Estimated At:1,200.00 - 1,800.00 USD
Chimú Copper Tumi
<B><I>Tumi</B></I></B></I><BR>Chimú<BR>A.D. 1000 - 1350<BR>Copper<BR>Height 11 1/4 in. Width 5 1/2 in.<BR><BR>Both front and back of the handle portion of this heavy copper <I>tumi</B></I> are covered with incised imagery. The front side, as mounted, has a columnar arrangement of three schematically-rendered standing frontal figures with wavy, upward-streaming hair. They hold war clubs in each hand and wear large earspools. The central figures are bordered at the sides and top by a band of rectangles containing a repeated pattern. The back side of the handle has a similar stacked arrangement of three collared masks (or highly conventionalized faces) with a centrally divided outward arching headdress or coiffure. In addition to a similar border, each head is separated from the next by a decorated band, with a bottom filler area divided vertically into several bands. There is overall age patination as well as corrosion and incrustation, especially on the knife blade area, the edges of which are slightly ragged from corrosion losses.<BR><BR>Provenance<BR>Bonhams & Butterfields, San Francisco: sale 7477E, 8 December 2003, lot 3067, p.22, ill.22<BR><BR> <BR><BR><B>Import