Page 598 - Art In The Age Of Exploration (Great Section on Chinese Art Ming Dynasty)

456-462

GROUP OF CARVED LLAMAS
AND ALPACAS

Inka
456: black stone with speckles
3
3
3
6 X 11 X 4.5 (2 /8 X 4 /8 X 1 /4J
457: black stone
2
3
3
6 X 11 X 4 (2 /8 X 4 /8 X 1 /2J
458: white alabaster
2
3
7
8 x 10 x 4.5 (3 /s x 3 /s x i /4J
459 :
2
2
3
5-5 * 13 X 5.5 (3 /S * 5 /S X 2 /8J
460: wood
3
3
5 X 7 X 3.5 (2 X 2 /4 X l /8)
461: beige stone with black veining
£.5 X 12 X 4.5 (3 /S X 4 /4 X 1 /4J
3
3
3
462: fr/ac/e stone
3
7
3
7 X 10 X 3.5 (2 /4 X 3 /8 X ! /s)
The Detroit Institute of Arts, Founders Society
Purchase with funds from June and William Poplack
Stone vessels in the shape of camelids served as
offering vessels to contain llama fat and blood to
be presented to the gods. Placed in pastures, these
vessels ensured the fertility of a herd.
Llamas, probably originally domesticated some
6,000 years ago in southern Peru, are essentially
highland animals, associated with the sacred
mountains. The llama also adapts well to differing
altitudes and was used in interaltitude trade.
There is a long history of llamas on the coast of
Peru (Rostworowski 1981, 50-53; Shimada and
Shimada 1985). During the Inka era the range of
llama herding was widely and deliberately
expanded, from Ecuador to Chile (Murra 1962,
711). Today llamas are relatively rare in the
Andes, although they are becoming popular as

corn beer and coca leaves with which it was fed).
This silver llama may have represented the
royal llama; it was found near a temple of the sun
on the island of Titicaca, Bolivia, and wears the
garments described by the Spanish chroniclers.
Made by lost-wax casting, it has red color added
to form the blanket; there were once inlays of
chrysacola. The narrow zigzag line on the blanket
is made of gold, as are the toenails. A similar
zigzag motif appears on some tunics (see cat. 449).
A gold llama and one of spondylus (spiny
oyster shell) were found in the burial with which
cat. 442 was associated (Mostny 1957). Llamas of
metal and spondylus also have been found with
other sacrificial burials (Schobinger 1991).
Llama sacrifices are still performed in the
Andes on certain occasions, and llama fertility
rites are important festivals in many places in
the highlands. E.P.B.

THE AMERICAS 597