The inhabitants of ancient Peru have bequeathed us a vast heritage that allows us to approach the beliefs and the way in which ancient societies conceived their environment. Despite their undeniable beauty, the pieces that we see in the collections of a museum like the MALI were not conceived as "works of art". Nor would they have served as representations of their customs or as purely decorative elements. In most cases, these objects were imagined as symbols of power and as propitiatory elements in rituals of life and death. With few exceptions, the vast majority of these artefacts formed part of the burials of important individuals and were placed inside the tombs, either as offerings dedicated to the gods or as personal objects used by the deceased in life, which were required to ensure their passage to the afterlife. The aim would have been to endow the deceased with powers that would allow him to take his place in a parallel world, the one inhabited by the ancestors. For this reason, some items, such as ceremonial dress and ritual paraphernalia, were worn by the deceased during his lifetime, while others, such as masks, textiles and a large part of the ceramics, were produced by his subjects as funerary offerings. We see that many of the images that decorate ceramic vessels, textiles, accessories made of precious metals, or the scenes depicted in mural paintings refer us to hybrid beings with supernatural traits, religious ceremonies and mythical narratives, represented in different and varied versions over thousands of years. It is difficult, and sometimes impossible, to unravel the complex meaning of these symbols, but the works presented here open a window into the universe of beliefs, values and customs that appeared five hundred years ago before the incredulous eyes of the Spanish conquistadors.
Time and Space of Art in the Andes
🔆Pre-Ceramic / Archaic (1000-1800 BC)
During the long period of domestication and the transition to sedentary life in the Andes, the artistic manifestations of this period are mainly manifested in the clay images that decorate the first monumental temples, carved gourds and clay figurines, as well as in the first textiles with incipient designs, such as those recorded at the site of Huaca Prieta, on the northern coast of Peru. These achievements preceded the emergence of pottery, which was only introduced around 1800 BC (Early Period) and only became widespread during the Formative period.
🔆Early Horizon / Formative (1200-200 BC)
The art of the Formative period is dominated by a series of images of animals and deified beings with fangs, which appear mainly on ceramics and metal ornaments. This was a complex iconographic system related to an influential religious and ideological movement controlled by the Cupisnique and Chavín elites. These two contemporary traditions, one based on the northern coast and the other in the highlands of Huaraz, would have been linked by the same ideological practice. The felines, snakes, birds of prey, and lizards or caimans that dominate the art of the period are represented either in a naturalistic or stylised form. In ceramics, decoration was carried out by modelling and incising designs. The most common form of fine pottery is the bottle with a stirrup-shaped handle, a typology that has survived in the region for thousands of years.
In the southern region, the Formative period was mainly represented by the Paracas culture, which developed on the coast between the Pisco and Ica valleys. Two clearly differentiated styles are associated with Paracas. The Paracas Cavernas style, named by Julio C. Tello on the basis of early funerary contexts, is distinguished by the exceptional decoration of its ceramics, whose striking colours were obtained with mineral resins applied after firing. Possibly from a later period, the Paracas Necropolis style is distinguished by its ceremonial textiles, the finest of the period, made from plain fabrics embroidered in bright colours. They depict supernatural-looking hybrid beings, which seem to have formed a regulated iconographic system that would lay the foundations for the later Nasca imagery.
🔆Early Intermediate / Regional Developments (200 BC - AD 600)
After the decline of Cupisnique, a series of developments appeared in the north prior to the crystallisation of the Mochica culture. Styles such as Salinar and Virú, which preceded and then partially coexisted with the Mochica development, emerged, marking an abrupt break with the previous traditions. The Virú tradition, also known as Gallinazo, is characterised by the introduction of the negative technique in pottery, mainly in double-bodied vessels.
The Mochica phenomenon saw the emergence of state entities that settled in the northern coastal valleys and were linked to a complex iconographic repertoire, architecture and elite funerary burials. Mochica art - whose main manifestations were mural painting, ceramics and metalwork - bears witness to the complex ritual and mythological structure created with the aim of dignifying their gods and legitimising the power of the rulers. Fine line painting on the surface of the pottery, a style that became important in the later phases, helped to depict the mythological narrative scenes in greater detail.
In the highlands, the break with the Formative tradition is evident in the flourishing of the Cajamarca traditions, in the region of the same name, as well as the Recuay style, in the Callejón de Huaylas. The latter is characterised by the use of a white clay called kaolin for the production of ceramics, mainly sculptural. In the restricted repertoire of images, the representation of priests participating in propitiatory rituals predominates, as does the presence of a supernatural feline, identified by archaeologists as a "lunar animal" or "crested dragon". The different versions in which it is depicted have been the subject of countless iconographic studies dedicated to tracing its possible origin to Moche or Recuay art. Kaolin is also used in Cajamarca ceramics, although it takes on particular forms such as tripod dishes and bowls, some of which are decorated with geometric and linear motifs.
In the south, the main artistic tradition of the period is linked to the development of the Nasca culture, which emerged as a transition from Paracas. The pottery has characteristic forms such as bottles with double spouts and bridging handles, vases and large ceremonial urns, decorated with bright colours on cream backgrounds. The main motifs represented are human figures and hybrid beings with appendages, whose appearance seems to have responded to aesthetic conventions directed by the elites. Animals such as the orca, the hummingbird and phytomorphic representations appear on both ceramics and textiles, and the presence of these motifs in the Palpa and Nasca geoglyphs suggests a possible link between the two traditions. The Nasca influence reached its peak around the 4th century AD with the main occupation in its capital Cahuachi.
🔆Middle Horizon / Huari (AD 600-900)
Towards the end of the Mochica state, a series of hybrid styles emerged from the fusion of the Mochica style with foreign developments such as Huari from Ayacucho, Nievería from the Central Coast and Lambayeque from the northern coast. This transitional period dominated the region until 900 AD, when the Lambayeque culture - also known as Sicán - became more prominent. In their art, the fine and elaborate metalwork stands out, as well as the characteristic "Huaco Rey", a bottle made in series that represents the face of the legendary character Naylamp, identified as a divine being with winged eyes, pointed ears and who usually wears hanging earrings. This is a period when a series of stylistic and technological transformations took place, bringing with them greater elite control over the production of cult objects. The production of this type of piece became more dynamic as it was centralised in state workshops.
In the south, in the region of Ayacucho, the Middle Horizon is defined by the emergence of the Huari phenomenon, a state that came to have political and religious control over a large part of the central Andean territory. Its polychrome pottery and fine textiles show a complex religious imagery that legitimised its power, and which was composed of human characters and hybrid beings endowed with a marked geometrisation. The Huari influence covers a wide territory from the highlands to the coast. Recent discoveries indicate the presence of Huari elites in coastal areas, such as the Huarmey valley in the Ancash region.
🔆Late Intermediate / Regional States (AD 900-1400)
With the end of the Huari hegemony, a series of independent traditions with particular characteristics emerged once again. In the north, the Chimú kingdom, which developed on the Mochica base and whose influence extended to the region north of Lima.
During the height of Chimú society, the production of ceremonial objects - mainly moulded pottery and rich funerary offerings in fabric, wood and metal - must have been carried out in specialised workshops that operated in Chan Chan, the capital city located in the Moche valley.
Although the late societies of the southern coast did not reach the level of development reached by the Chimú, there is archaeological evidence of the high quality of their artistic production. The colourful Ica-Chincha ceramics, for example, are mainly represented by finely crafted bowls decorated with geometric motifs inspired by weavings.
During the same period, in the Chancay valley, an isolated but highly artistic tradition appeared, which excelled in the production of ceramics and fine weavings. The good preservation of these artefacts has made it possible to have access to a large number of them, which are now part of the collections of the main pre-Hispanic art museums.
🔆Late Horizon / Inca (AD 1400-1532)
With the advent of Inca society, a clearly defined and restricted artistic style emerged. This is the so-called Imperial Inca style, directed from the capital of Tawantinsuyo, which is mainly represented by wooden keros and aríbalos painted with geometric motifs, as well as plant and animal forms. It is also recognisable in the fine ceremonial shirts decorated with the characteristic tocapu motif, as well as in the metal figurines representing humans and camelids, probably made to accompany the burials of young girls sacrificed in a ritual known as Capac Hucha.
The stylistic sequence on the north coast culminated with the Inca conquest, which gave rise to a series of hybrid styles that testify to the mechanisms used by this empire to integrate and control regional groups outside Cuzco. The new forms differ from the Cuzco-Inca or Imperial Inca style, characterised mainly by aríbalo with local ingredients and geometric motifs painted on the pottery.
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Image Gallery
POST FROM:
De Arte De Lima, M. (s. f.). El arte en el Perú - MALI. http://www.concursointerescolar.mali.pe/artePeru.php#gallery
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