Vase with two handles, presenting on the belly an incised deity with beautiful geometric shapes. Brown and beige terracotta.
Slight splinters on the neck.
Good general state of conservation.
La Aguada, Argentina, 700-1000 AD
Height: 11 cm. Width: 16 cm.

Provenance: Ancienne Collection Redonnet, Sale of 25 May 1925, Maître Lair-Dubreuil, Paris, Hôtel Drouot, reproduced sheet 1, n°28 of the catalogue.

The objects presented below are part of an original set of objects called "Calchaquis" scattered under the hammer of Master F. LAIRDUBREUIL in Drouot on 22 May 1925. They come from Mr. Redonnet's collection.
The Calchaquis are an Amerindian group that lived in northwestern Argentina.
The name Calchaquis was only given to them in the 17th century by the Europeans. This group is composed of the pre-Columbian American tribes "Diaguitas, Yocavils, Quilmes, Tafis, Chicoanas, Tilcaras and Purmamarcas". Calchaquis therefore brings together this group of tribes. This name comes from one of the main Indian chiefs Diaguitas, who opposed the Spanish. The latter, named Kalchaki, had completely destroyed the Spanish cities of Cañete and London, near Santiago del Estrero, around 1560, during an uprising triggered by Governor
Castañeda's hostility towards the Indians.
The Calchaquis were farmers, pastoralists and excellent potters. They worshipped deities of nature such as the sun, the earth, the moon and lightning. They spoke a particular language called Kakan.
In 1480, like many other peoples, they had to submit to the domination of the Inca Empire, from which they suffered a strong cultural influence.
This group, called by the expert of the time under the terms Calchaquis, comes essentially from the pre-Columbian cultures Diaguitas and Condorhuarsi.
It is extremely rare in pre-Columbian art sales to have objects with this wonderful provenance, scattered in Drouot in 1925.