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© Michael C. Carlos Museum, Emory University. Photo by Michael McKelvey.
Tumi (Ceremonial Knife) in the Form of a Sican Lord
© Michael C. Carlos Museum, Emory University. Photo by Michael McKelvey.
© Michael C. Carlos Museum, Emory University. Photo by Michael McKelvey.
© Michael C. Carlos Museum, Emory University. Photo by Michael McKelvey.
ClassificationsArt of the Americas

Tumi (Ceremonial Knife) in the Form of a Sican Lord

Place CreatedPeru, South America
CultureLambayeque (Sican)
PeriodLate Intermediate (Middle Sican)
Date1050-1100 CE
MediumBronze (copper-arsenic) alloy
Credit LineGift of Cora W. and Laurence C. Witten II
Dimensions11 1/2 x 6 1/2 in. (29.2 x 16.5 cm)
Object number1994.018.033
Exhibition HistoryTears of the Moon: Ancient American Precious Metals from the Permanent Collection, Michael C. Carlos Museum, October 16, 1996 - October 16, 1998
MCCM Permanent Collection Reinstallation, September 13, 2002 - June 2012
MCCM Permanent Collection Reinstallation, February 9, 2013 - June 19, 2017
Threads of Time: Tradition and Change in Indigenous American Textiles, Michael C. Carlos Museum, August 19 - December 17, 2017
MCCM Permanent Collection Galleries, February 2018 - March 13, 2019
MCCM Permanent Collection Galleries, July 2, 2019 - Present
Published ReferencesSotheby's New York, Pre-Columbian Art (May 19, 1987), lot 264.
Rebecca Stone-Miller, Seeing With New Eyes: Highlights of the Michael C. Carlos Museum Collection of Art of the Ancient Americas (Atlanta: Michael C. Carlos Museum, 2002), 201-02, figure 463.
Laura M. Wingfield, "Greenstone Axe to Gold Eagle Pendant: The Sex Change of Costa Rica's Symbol of National Pride," in Dressing the Part: Power, Dress, Gender, and Representation in the Pre-Columbian Americas, ed. Sarahh E.M. Scher and Billie J.A. Follensbee (Gainesville: University Press of Florida, 2017), 354, figure 9.14b.
Threads of Time: Tradition and Change in Indigenous American Textiles, 2017, http://threads-of-time.carlos.emory.edu/items/show/15.
"Dialogues in Thread: the Quechua Concepts of Ayni, Ukhu, Tinku, Q'iwa, and Ushay," Threads of Time: Tradition and Change in Indigenous American Textiles, 2017, http://threads-of-time.carlos.emory.edu/exhibits/show/essays/dialoguesinthread.
ProvenanceEx coll. Laurence (1926-1995) and Cora (1931-2023) Witten, United States, possibly purchased from David Bernstein, New York, New York, 1983. With Sotheby's New York, May 19, 1987, lot 264.
Status
On view
Collections
  • Art of the Americas
Technical NotesSurface corrosion preserves evidence of the textiles that were wrapped around the tumi for burial. The textile threads were replaced by corrosion pseudo morphs that reproduce the weave pattern. Close examination of the corrosion products on the large tumi reveals a weft-faced plainweave.