A small hammered-gold llama figure of the Inka style, dated between 1400 and 1532. Figurines of this kind, in gold, silver or a spondylus-shell and other materials depending on rank, were carried to high mountain shrines and buried as capacocha offerings, an Inca state ritual most often performed at moments of crisis such as famine, drought, or the death or accession of an Inca ruler, and understood as tribute to the apus, the mountain deities who governed water, fertility and the fortunes of the surrounding land. Comparable figurines, in gold and silver and in several standard size classes, have been recovered from mountain-summit shrine sites across the former Inca empire and are held today by museums including the Cleveland Museum of Art, the British Museum, the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Museo Larco. This specific figurine is displayed in the Cleveland Museum of Art's Andean gallery.
Facts
Origins
Date of CreationInca period, 1400 to 1532 1 Medium (class) Subject Matter
Devotional FunctionA capacocha offering figurine, deposited at a mountain shrine as tribute to the apus, the mountain deities, most often at moments of crisis or at the accession or death of an Inca ruler. 2 Custody
Current LocationCleveland Museum of Art, Gallery 232 (Andean) 1 Current CustodianCleveland Museum of Art 1 Physical Form
Dimensions5.2 cm (2 1/16 in.) overall 1 Rights and Reproduction
Reproduction and CopyrightThis object is centuries past any copyright term, but a specific modern photograph of it carries its own separate copyright. This atlas describes and cites the work rather than reproducing an image of it. 1 Connections
Associated With
This source names Inca Empire directly: "shrine sites across the former Inca empire and are held today by museums including the Cleveland Museum of Art, the British Museum, the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Museo Larco."
Source Llama Figurine, 1955.374 (Cleveland Museum of Art)
Belongs to Tradition
Source Llama Figurine, 1955.374 (Cleveland Museum of Art)
Sources
1. Llama Figurine, 1955.374 (Cleveland Museum of Art)
2. Miniature Gold Llama Figurine (The British Museum, via Google Arts and Culture)
The British Museum, via Google Arts and Culturecatalogue record, medium/object-type descriptionQuote, catalogue record, medium/object-type description
A small hammered-gold llama figure of the Inka style, dated between 1400 and 1532.
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