Deer-Shaped Perfumer

Deer-Shaped Perfumer

1800s
Artist
unknown artist
Locale
Ayacucho
Country
Peru
Style/Tradition
Peruvian Colonial filigree
Object
figurine
Medium
Silver
Accession Number
1992.385
Credit Line
Gift of the Robert C. Appleman Family

Unknown artist, Deer-Shaped Perfumer, 1800s. Silver; 9 × 7 in. Gift of the Robert C. Appleman family, 1992.385.

Dimensions
height: 9 in, 22.8600 cm; width: 7 in, 17.7800 cm
Department
Mayer Center, Latin American Art
Collection
Latin American Art

When Francisco Pizarro and his small army arrived in Peru in 1532, to their delight they found that gold and silver were abundant. Indigenous cultures had a long tradition of metalworking techniques, including filigree, casting, and hammering. Silversmiths from Spain began to immigrate to the Americas shortly after the conquest and introduced European forms and styles. Through time the synthesis of Indigenous and European styles became integrated, culminating in the lush excesses of colonial Baroque and Rococo metalwork.
     Filigree, or metal lace, as it was aptly called, is the technique of fashioning objects from thin metal wire. An ancient technique in both Europe and the Americas, it continued to be used throughout the Spanish colonial era. This image of a deer was used as a censer. Incense, such as copal, could be lighted and placed inside the vessel where the smoke would escape through the wire framework to perfume a room.
--Donna Pierce, 2015

Known Provenance
Collection of (Jeter-Osona Gallery), Santa Barbara, CA, by 1985; Purchased by Robert C. [1909-2003] and Jean [1930-2021] Appleman, Denver, CO, February 19, 1985; Gifted to the Denver Art Museum, June 30, 1992
Exhibition History
  • "Splendors of Baroque Mexico", DAM, December, 1984-January 1985
  • “Stampede: Animals in Art” — Denver Art Museum, 9/10/2017
  • "Stampede: Animals in Art"- DAM, September 10, 2017 – May 19, 2019
  • “ReVision: Art in the Americas” — Denver Art Museum, 10/24/2021 – 7/17/2022
  • ReVision: Art in the Americas, Minneapolis Institute of Art, Minneapolis, MN, 7/1/23 - 9/17/23