Andean Resources

threads-of-time.carlos.emory.edu/exhibits/show/essays/bestofthebest

threads-of-time.carlos.emory.edu/exhibits/show/essays/dialoguesinthread

Tears of the Sun: The Naturalistic and Anthropomorphic in Inca MetalworkMetalworking occupies a unique place within Inca artistic production. A surprising percentage of the surviving works in this high-value medium might be considered anthropomorphic or zoomorphic, making them singular in the Inca artistic corpus, famed for its avoidance of flora and fauna. Descriptions by Spanish chroniclers suggest that many more anthropomorphic and even perhaps “naturalistic” works once existed. This essay thereby grapples with the following two questions: why did the Inca approach metal so differently from other sculptural media, most notably stone? And how do we square descriptions of Inca metalwork’s “naturalism” in European chronicles with what we might describe, at best, as anthro- or zoomorphic forms in the surviving Inca corpus?

Peru: a journey in timeDiscover how people have thrived for millennia in one of the most complex and challenging environments on the planet.

Hands down one of the best explainer websites on Andean textiles, a must-read:

http://threads-of-time.carlos.emory.edu/ancientperu

Four-Cornered HatFour-Cornered Hat, 500–900 C.E., Wari (or Tiwanaku), Bolivia or Peru, camelid fiber, 17.8 x 18.4 x 57.8 cm (The Metropolitan Museum of Art)

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