Page 591 - Art In The Age Of Exploration (Great Section on Chinese Art Ming Dynasty)

THE INKAS AND THEIR EMPIRE
The empire created by the Inkas constituted one imposing stone cities in lofty Andean settings. wool. The Inkas introduced their highly
of the most formidable political achievements The ruins of these monuments still attest to the formalized artistic vocabulary to the peoples
in the world of 1492. With a highly developed splendor of the empire at its height. they ruled as a means of proclaiming their
government centered in Cuzco, the Inka rulers Sadly, many Inka works of art disappeared at presence throughout the empire. Surviving
had extended their control over a number of the time of the Spanish conquest or in its after- works of art from some of these cultures, such
diverse cultures during the preceding two cen- math. What remain, for the most part, are as Chimu and Chancay, reveal the great cul-
turies, bringing stability and prosperity to their votive figurines —miniature depictions of men, tural variety of the lands brought under Inka
vast realm. They created an impressive system women, and animals in gold and silver—and control.
of roads to unite their possessions and erected beautifully woven tunics of vicuna and alpaca

441
manuscript Guaman Poma pictures himself in
Felipe Guaman Poma de Ayala elegant Spanish dress.
late i6th-early i/th century The contrasts and contradictions between the
INKA RULER SURROUNDED BY THE native and the European worlds are evident in
ROYAL COUNCIL both the manuscript and its author. The Andean
viewpoint is presented with force and sensitivity,
fol. 364 of El Primer Nueva Coronica y Buen but the medium of both writing and illustration
Gobierno is essentially European. It is the Andean pictorial
before 1615 source closest to the remarkable encounter
manuscript on paper between the Old World and the New. E. p. B.
5
14.5 x 20.5 (5 /s x 8)
The Royal Library, Copenhagen, MS Gl, Kgl
Sam/. 2232
442-448
The finding of this manuscript in 1908 among
materials in the Royal Library of Denmark has SEVEN HUMAN FIGURINES
been called "the most important discovery of the Inka
century for the knowledge of the Andean world,
a contribution without equal among the primary 442: hammered silver, wool, feathers
sources" (Murra in Guaman Poma 1980, xiii). 10(4)
How it arrived in Copenhagen is not certain Museo National de Historia Natural, Santiago
(Adorno in Guaman Poma 1980, xliii). The
manuscript consists of 1,189 written pages, of 443: hammered silver, textiles, feathers
which 400 are full-page, annotated illustrations /.I (2%j
of the conquest and Christianization of Peru and private collection
of indigenous persons and customs of the Inka 444: hammered silver
period. A long letter to the Spanish king, it is
believed to have been written in the years before preconquest life and as a guide to Inka social 15.75 (6Vs)
1615. The Inka state had been conquered decades structure, administration, religious ritual, the The American Museum of Natural History,
before Guaman Poma completed his monumental calendar, daily life, and dress. Some of the kinds New York
work, and European priorities influence some of objects in the Inka section of this exhibition are 445: hammered gold
of what he wrote. His intent was to convince illustrated in use in Guaman Poma's depictions 14.6 x 3 ($ /4X iVsj
3
authorities in Spain of the need for improvements of Inka rulers and their officials and in scenes of private collection
in the ways the Andes were governed; to do that, calendrical rituals, worship, and seasonal activities.
he wanted to increase European understanding of Nothing is known of the author except what can 446: hammered gold
the natives and their pre-Hispanic customs and be learned from this manuscript. The "Carta del a w/4)
system of governance. Because of the basically Padre del Autor," at the beginning of the manu- Museum Rietberg Zurich (Purchase funded by
colonial intent, care must be used in interpreting script, states that Guaman Poma's father was the Credit Suisse)
the document, but under its veneer of European son of a Spaniard named Ayala and the grandson
perceptions lies one of the strongest pictures of of kings of the Inka past, a descendant of the 447: silver with shell inlays
the Andean world, written and drawn by a native sovereigns of Chinchaysuyu, the northern part 19.5 (f/8)
who had rich personal knowledge of local customs. of the Inka empire. Guaman (or waman) means Musee de I'Homme, Palais de Chaillot, Paris
As one of the few early Andean sources and the "falcon" in the Quechua language in which the 448: hammered gold, wool, feathers
only one with rich visual material, the manuscript manuscript is mostly written, and poma (or
is immensely valuable as an aid in interpreting puma) is the mountain lion of the Andes. In the Museo Pachacamac, Peru

590 CIRCA 1492