The Chimú Kingdom was a tenacious survivor. Arising in the AD 900s, it lasted some 500 years before it was conquered, as were all the Andean cultures, by the Inca Empire. The Chimú were the last of these cultures standing, the largest of the pre-Inca kingdoms, but nonetheless a dwarf in comparison to the Inca themselves. According to their own oral memory, the Chimú were founded by Tacaynamo, a great heroic king who arrived on the shores of Peru on a raft. Chimú expansion was, at first, a willing confederation of local tribes and cultures, however the Chimú soon resorted to conquest to achieve dominance along a coastal strip of northern Peru. Centred on their capital at Chan Chan, the largest city in South America before Columbus, the Chimú built large temple pyramids from adobe, perhaps indicating trade contacts with the Mesoamerican cultures of Mexico.

Like many other pre-Inca cultures in Peru, the Chimú’s characteristic pottery was the stirrup vessel, a vase with a globular body, two necks, rising to meet in the middle, with a single upward spout. The Chimú were responsible for the majority of the pottery surviving from ancient Peru, perhaps making up ninety-five percent of the extant assemblage. It is mostly decorated with a simple black slip, which ranges in shade from metallic grey to deep black. This colour was achieved by careful manipulation of the temperature and oxygen levels in the kiln. Chimú potters became very adept at this complex and highly-skilled process, producing a bewildering variety of finishes, with a remarkable range of tones and shades.

This stirrup vessel demonstrates the fine work of the Chimú potter. With thin, delicate walls, and a gunmetal-grey finish, it speaks to the skill of the artisan in manipulating the kiln The body is ovoid, with a flattened base, bulging elegantly from the profile. The stirrup, that is to say the conjoining necks, is ring-shaped, and decorated with small birds, with a striped body mimicking the texture of feathers, a large round eye, and a sizeable leaf-shaped beak. It is possible that these represent toucans, nineteen species of which are known in Peru, the most common being the toco toucan (Ramphastos toco). On either ‘face’ of the body is a common motif in the Andean area, the felines and snake motif. This imagery depicts a confrontation between an unknown feline and a snake, competing for dominance in the forest domain. The felines here depicted have wild round eyes, bared teeth, and round ‘Mickey Mouse’ ears, as well as hand-like paws, and long curling tails. While it is hard to tell, it is possible that the feline represented is the Andean mountain cat (Leopardus jacobita), the only Andean cat with similarly proportioned ears. However, it is equally possible that the felines depict an amalgamation of different cat species, chosen for their various attributes. In both scenes, the cats wrestle with a snake – almost certainly the green anaconda (Eunectes murinus), the largest snake in the world and a feared spirit of the forest – in one case as equal participants, but in the other with one cat subdued. While little is known about the Chimú religion, other than their apparent worship of the Moon, later analogies with the Inca religion indicate that these three creatures – bird, cat, snake – represent the three realms of existence in the Andean worldview. The bird indicates hana pacha (‘the above-world’), the snake suggests ukhu pacha (‘the below-world’), while the feline is symbolic of kay pacha (‘this world’).