Cleveland Museum of Art

Kero (Waisted Cup)

Date

after 1550

Medium

wood, inlaid pigments

Culture

Peru, Colonial Inka style, 16th century

Department

Art of the Americas

Institution

Cleveland Museum of Art

Keros, used to drink the maize beer chicha, were essential items of Inka statecraft. Made and used in pairs, they reflect the important Andean concept of reciprocity. Native use of keros continued in the colonial period, the date of these two examples, which come from separate pairs. The example with geometric motifs is closest to pre-conquest models. On the second, two armies converge: the Inka, dressed in tunics with waistbands, and their opponents, perhaps jungle people whose body parts are heaped in a centerpiece.

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