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Qero Cup in Shape of Human Head
Accession # 39.563
Culture Quechua
Title Qero Cup in Shape of Human Head
Date 17th-18th century
Medium Wood, pigment inlay
Dimensions 7 1/2 x 6 3/8 x 5 3/8 in. (19.1 x 16.2 x 13.7 cm)
Credit Line Museum Collection Fund
Location Visible Storage: Case 34, Shelf D (Spanish Colonial Art)
Description The vessel is constructed from a single piece of wood. On the front, a face is carved; on the back, the hair provides a panel for a figural scene in which an Inca ruler, sitting on a low stool and holding a shield, is presented with a prisoner of war whose face is painted with three horizontal bands of color like the face on the kero cup itself. The scene also includes a figure holding a parasol over another figure and a seated feline. The forehead forms the rim of the cup and the neck forms the foot of the vessel. Inca themes were used on kero cups throughout the Colonial era.