Pair of Keros with Carved Feline Handles

Unknown

17th–18th century · Wood, pigmented resin inlays · Arts of Africa, Oceania, and the Americas

Only faint traces of pigmented resin remain in the incised designs of this pair of keros. These designs show women in Andean dress holding flowers, alternating with images of a tree flanked by giant parrots. Keros of this type depart from earlier colonial design formats. The feline handles permit the vessel's waist to be exposed during the ceremony of exchange and thus allow the main scene—which in the conventional format is restricted to a narrower upper register—to occupy a larger portion of the kero.

Artist

Unknown

Date

17th–18th century

Medium

Wood, pigmented resin inlays

Culture

Quechua

Department

Arts of Africa, Oceania, and the Americas

Credit line

Bequest of Arthur M. Bullowa, 1993