On view
Standing female,
1438–1532
Art of the Inka Empire
From a humble group of villagers, the Inka rose to an expansive political force in the late fourteenth century, rapidly growing through military and economic expansion to become the largest empire in the ancient Andes. Their vast territory stretched from the capital at Cuzco north into Ecuador and south into Chile and comprised over twelve million subjects. This Inka-dominated area was called Tawantinsuyo (Land of Four Quarters), reflecting the basic four-part organization of their political geography. Conquest by the Inka empire brought luxury goods, such as the art displayed here, to subject peoples, and those in power carefully controlled such fine objects in order to maintain a discernible imperial style—and thus impose a consistent vision of the state.
Information
1438–1532
South America, Peru, Argentina, or Chile
June 14, 1950, Good Neighbor Imports, New York, sold to J. Lionberger Davis (1878-1973), Princeton, NJ [1]; 1952, gift to the Princeton University Art Museum.
Note:
[1] According to the accession card.
- Adolphe Basler and Ernest Brummer, L'Art Precolombien (Paris: Librairie de France, 1928)., pls. 128–9
- Max Schmidt, Kunst und Kultur von Peru (Berlin: Propyläen-Verlag G. M. B. H., 1929)., p. 459 (illus.)
- Heinrigh Ubbelohde-Doering, Old Peruvian Art (London: A. Zwemmer, 1936)., pl. 44
- Felipe Cossío del Pomar, Arte del Perú Precolombino (Mexico City: Fondo De Cultura Economica, 1949)., pl. opp., p. 192, 193
- Heinrich Ubbelohde-Doering, Kunst im Reiche der Inca (Tübingen: E. Wasmuth, 1952)., pl. 43, p. 45
- Heinrich Ubbelohde-Doering, The Art of Ancient Peru (London: A. Zwemmer, 1952)., pl. 43, p. 45
- "Recent acquisitions," Record of the Art Museum, Princeton University 12, no. 1 (1953): p. 38-39., p. 38
- Gold of the Andes, Treasures of Peru (Brussels: Laconti, 1963)., cat. no. 384
- Allen Wardwell, The Gold of Ancient America (Boston: Museum of Fine Arts, 1968)., cat. no. 40
- "Gifts by J. Lionberger Davis, Class of 1900, to the Art Museum", Record of the Art Museum, Princeton University 33, no. 2 (1974): p. 24-30., p. 25
- Bryan Cockrell and Colin McEwan, “The Fabrication and Ritual Significance of Inka Miniature Figurines in the Princeton University Art Museum,” Record of the Art Museum, Princeton University 75/76 (2016-17): 18-41., figs. 2, 4, 5, 6
