Page 522 - Art In The Age Of Exploration (Great Section on Chinese Art Ming Dynasty)

SIGNS OF DIVISION, SYMBOLS OF UNITY:

ART IN THE INKA EMPIRE

Craig Morris

I

I bn
1492 the Inka ruled the largest empire in
the New World, rivaled only by the Chinese and Its elaborate political and religious ceremonies some state-sponsored art escaped standardiza-
as well
tion.
encompassed rituals of peace and growth
Thus the largest part of the archaeological
Ottoman empires in the Old World. From its as of war and destruction. From deep in the his- inventory from Tawantinsuyu reflects these
capital in Cuzco it ran southward to central tory of the Andes came a concept of coloniza- local traditions or an interplay between local
Chile and included the northwestern part of tion as a means of access to the goods of distant traditions and those of the rulers from Cuzco.
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Argentina as well as highland Peru and Bolivia. and varied regions, one that appears to have As in most nonwestern societies there is no
The empire extended for 2,600 miles from been very different from those the Europeans evidence that the Inka had a category of objects
north to south. A recent and tentative estimate were to evolve in the Americas. While the Inka thought of as art. Most of the things beautiful
suggests that the population might have idea was certainly one of domination, it was to the modern eye had functions in Inka society.
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exceeded fourteen million. The Inka had con- also one of economic independence of individual Some were utilitarian objects: pottery or metal
quered the rich desert kingdoms of coastal Peru, groups and their responsibility for their own vessels to hold food and drink or textiles for
such as Chimu and Chincha. They were still well being. Different groups shared and col- clothing. Others functioned mainly in the sym-
expanding northward in Ecuador when laborated in certain circumstances and acted bolic realm, such as figurines used as offerings
a small group of Spanish invaders under the independently in others. or carved stones that related people and society
command of Francisco Pizarro took Atawalpa, The empire was thus maintained through a to the natural and supernatural worlds. The
the Inka ruler, captive on 16 November 1532. careful balance between hierarchically organized aspects of these objects that we might call
The genius of the Inka was the coordination groups. This balance required forces of division design or decoration almost always were inti-
of diversity. The resources of drastically dif- as well as of unification. Inka political ideology mately involved with identity and the commu-
ferent environments, many of them considered included a vision of space and planning on the nication of identity—personal, social, and
poor today, were put together to form such most grandiose scale. It also recognized the cultural.
wealth that even the looting and disorder fol- inevitability of conflict and confrontation. The A maker of objects might identify with
lowing the invasion took decades to dissipate it. state and its rulers attempted to control the several different social and cultural strata. There
Peoples of different customs and practices were changing process by which this balance was were at least two: the level of local or regional
combined to form an enormous patchwork achieved and maintained. society and that of the Inka state. In some cases
polity in which human diversity matched the A hallmark of Inka administration was a vast the levels were more complex. Large regional
spectacular contrasts in the environment and road system connecting well-coordinated way societies might be divided into subgroups;
the variety of the resources it provided. stations, warehouses, and centers of government towns might have their own identities and
The Inka called their empire Tawantinsuyu, ceremonies. At the empire's height more than might be further divided into moieties. The
"land of the four parts/' The strategies they twenty-five thousand kilometers of roads were extent to which these separate identities are
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used to govern it varied somewhat from region in use. Archaeology has revealed that the reflected in ceramics, cloth, and metalwork
to region, depending on the nature and organi- towns, cities, and other installations built along varies considerably from one region of
zation of the incorporated peoples, on their the imperial roads were different in architecture Tawantinsuyu to another.
amenability or resistance to Inka aims and poli- and planning from the local settlements in the The diversity in objects whose production
cies, and on the local resources the Inka sought regions that surround them. The differences was not under imperial control is thus related to
to exploit. Fundamental to understanding the between state and local styles extended fre- the patchwork quality of the Inka empire.
enormous scale of the empire is the Inka percep- quently, as in the Peruvian central highlands, to Sometimes local artisans combined elements of
tion and organization of space and of the people, the ceramics and other objects used in the state imperial style into local products, and in other
settlements, and resources within it. While installations. cases they ignored the Cuzco style almost
some of these ideas can be seen in religion and These stylistic distinctions between objects entirely. Some of these stylistic relationships,
cosmology, it was their concrete realization made by the Inka and by those whom they not surprisingly, are related to the extent of
in the physical and social world that is most im- ruled provide archaeological keys for the under- local resistance to Inka rule. Except for occa-
portant in understanding the political accom- standing of Inka society and art. Inka art has sional imitations of an Inka form, Chimu cera-
plishments. The Inka certainly produced many sometimes been characterized as rigid and mists continued with the basic black ware they
bold and beautiful objects. These notable artistic standardized, uninspired and plain, often con- made before they were conquered by the Inka.
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achievements are related to the Inka transfor- sidered a classic case of political authority exert- Subtle changes in shape denote the passage of
mation of the landscape and society—to the ing strong sway over creative output. Many time and allow Inka-period pottery to be distin-
ways they maintained diversity and at the same objects made under state supervision for state guished from older material, but there is no
time brought together the constituent parts. use were indeed standardized. Because the Inka clear rejection of earlier stylistic ideas. In tex-
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Political life in Tawantinsuyu seems to have state did not extend its control to the lower, tiles the emphasis is also on stylistic continuity. 6
involved an almost constant tension between local levels in most of the realm, much of life The Inka either did not or could not drastically
unity and diversity, collaboration and conflict. and art continued under local traditions. And change the principal features of Chimu art.

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