Balance-Beam Scale with Geometric Cut-out Motifs and String holding Shell Pendants

Arts of the Americas

A.D. 500/800

Possibly Nazca
South coast, Peru

Currently Off View: Arts of the Americas

Culture: Nazca
Title: Balance-Beam Scale with Geometric Cut-out Motifs and String holding Shell Pendants
Origin: Peru
Date: 500 CE–800 CE
Medium: Bone, string, and shell
Dimensions: 9.7 × 2 cm (3 13/16 × 3/4) (scale only)
Credit Line: Buckingham Fund
Reference Number: 1955.2579g

Eduard Gaffron (1861–1931), Lima, Peru, from 1892 to 1912, then Berlin, from [History of the Department report (Joanne Behrens, 1985) and correspondence in curatorial file]; by descent to his children Mercedes Gaffron, Berlin then Durham S.C. and Hans Gaffron (1902–1979), Berlin then Chicago [correspondence and documentation of the Gaffron Collection in curatorial file]; sold to the Art Institute, 1955.

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