COLLECTION NAME:
The AMICA Library
Record
AMICA ID:
CMA_.1957.143
AMICA Library Year:
2002
Object Type:
Decorative Arts and Utilitarian Objects
Creator Nationality:
South American; Pre-Columbian; Peruvian
Creator Name-CRT:
Peru, Colonial Inka style, 16th Century
Title:
Kero (Waisted Cup)
Title Type:
Primary
View:
Full View
Creation Date:
after 1550
Creation Start Date:
1550
Creation End Date:
1650
Materials and Techniques:
wood, inlaid pigments
Classification Term:
Furniture and woodwork
Dimensions:
Diameter of mouth: 13.8cm, Overall: 17.8cm
AMICA Contributor:
The Cleveland Museum of Art
Owner Location:
Cleveland, Ohio, USA
ID Number:
1957.143
Credit Line:
Gift of William R. Carlisle
Context:
Kero cups, used to drink the corn beer chicha, were essential items of Inka statecraft. Made in identical pairs, they may have affirmed the drinkers' equality but also their obligation to one another. Native use of paired keros continued into the Spanish Colonial period, the date of the two shown here.
The non-figurative example is closest to pre-conquest models, which often feature geometric designs extremely important in Inka art but not at all understood. On the second, two armies converge, the Inka, facing right and dressed in tunics (shirts) with waistbands, and their opponents, perhaps eastern jungle people (the Anti), whose severed body parts are heaped in a grisly centerpiece.
Related Image Identifier Link:
CMA_.AM20020533.tif
