Art Institute of Chicago

Jaguar Head Kero

Maker unknown (Inca)

Date

1600–1800

Medium

Wood and mopa-mopa resin

Culture

Peru, Viceroyalty of

Department

Arts of the Americas

Institution

Art Institute of Chicago

During the Inca Empire, wooden kero drinking cups were only decorated with geometric designs. But after the Spanish invasion, the Inca royal court retreated to lower elevations in the Amazonian jungle, a place they called Vilcabamba. Likely in response to the introduction of European heraldry featuring lions and building on representations of felines by their Andean predecessors, Inca makers created new keros shaped like feline heads. Rather than depicting highland pumas, however, such keros are spotted like Amazonian jaguars.

The authoritative record is held by Art Institute of Chicago. LinkedCulture surfaces this object and its connections; it does not alter institutional metadata.