Page 526 - Art In The Age Of Exploration (Great Section on Chinese Art Ming Dynasty)

fig. 4. The shape of the sacred rock at Machu Picchu echoes that of the mountain behind it

caused by large ear ornaments. The ear orna- both the importance of the craft and the lack of social and ideological concerns were most often
ments of the Inka rulers are said to have been sufficient local specialists to supply the rapidly seen in textiles and architecture.
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of gold. 36 expanding state. These smiths were presum- Architecture built by the Inka state is easy to
Metal objects were frequent religious offer- ably asked to make objects in a new style. They distinguish from the buildings of other times
ings. Gold and silver figurines of animals and apparently abandoned the elaborately orna- and cultures. It is based on simple forms with
people were often buried. Some of the most mented surface detail of sheet metal charac- little adornment. In the highlands the Inka built
spectacular examples of these buried offerings teristic of earlier Chimu art for an emphasis on mainly with stone, relying on relief provided by
were interred on snowcapped mountains in the the simple, more three-dimensional forms the joins for surface character. On the coast
southern Andes of Chile and Argentina (cat. favored by the Inka. local adobe was the primary construction mate-
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442). It is interesting that the human figures The Inka had inherited one of the world's rial. In both regions buildings were frequently
were clothed, so that the metal surface was most sophisticated metallurgical technologies, covered with a thin layer of clay that was
largely covered. and they clearly appreciated the malleability, brightly painted. Walls were slightly tapered for
In pre-Inka times the quantities of silver and durability, and reflective surfaces of metal. stability. The trapezoid was a ubiquitous form,
gold ornaments in the Cuzco area had not been However, it was not the medium they chose for used for doorways, windows, and wall niches. 39
nearly as great as those in the north. The Inka expressing their most complex ideas. The In some of the most famous and monumental
brought Chimu smiths to Cuzco, suggesting vocabularies for articulating their principal Inka architecture, retaining walls were used to

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THE AMERICAS 5 5