INCA CERAMICS

Inca ceramics were mostly utilitarian, but also ceremonial since they were used in religious rites
where this ceramic was specially decorated for that function. Inca ceramics were painted with
numerous motifs or graphics, including birds, felines, llamas, jaguars, alpacas, bees, butterflies,
geometric designs, and also human and mythological beings. The Incas used many types of
ceramics, but the most representative were the bottles from Cusco "El aríbalo" and the ceremonial
containers such as "El Kero" which was a type of gold, silver or wooden vessel that contains
religious offerings in ceremonies. Rituals for the gods in ancient Peru. Many of these pieces are
exhibited in Lima, at the Larco Museum and the National Museum of Archeology, Anthropology
and History of Peru.

Inca Ceramic Production

There were large reserves of clay for ceramics in the Andes. and there were also very fine clays
available around Cusco. In those days potters did not use the potter's wheel. They made ceramics
in a simple way, the ceramics were created in the desired shape with hands and molds already
pre-designed for those jobs. To achieve a thinner and finer finish they used smooth stones and/or
trowels to carve them. The palette used by these potters suggests that they were influenced by
the Nazca people.

Ceramic decoration

After the Inca ceramics were manufactured, they continued with their decoration depending on
the use they would have, they were decorated with different animal, plant and geometric designs.
Usually the colors red, black and white were used. In the different regions of the Inca empire they
had their own designs influenced by the customs of the already conquered cultures, but despite
this they all retained something in common, with which they were identified as Inca ceramics.

Inca ceramics were characterized by decorating the different vessels with animal heads. They
usually decorated with representations of animal heads or complete animals on the top of the
vessels. Today you can see many Inca ceramics with bird heads on the top of their vessels, but
they also had other popular motifs such as the use of other animals such as llamas, vicuñas,
jaguars, alpacas, butterflies and bees, etc.
The favorite colors for ceramics were red, black, white, orange and yellow. Like other Andean
peoples, they frequently used geometric shapes in their creations.
Origin of Inca Ceramics

When the Inca empire flourished in the Andes, ceramics was already a highly developed art in that
region, the inhabitants of many regions practiced creating pottery with clay thousands of years
ago. So when they were conquered by the Incas there were already a good number of potters
skilled in the artistic work of ceramic art who contributed their knowledge to the Inca empire.
Inca ceramics and the entire Inca culture is a process of cultural synthesis that took place for
thousands of years in the Andes with the cultural absorption and military conquest of the Andean
peoples or cultures that bequeathed their cultural, artistic, economic, political, contributions.
social, etc. to a power that linked and developed an advanced imperial culture "Empire of
Tahuantinsuyo". We can detect the presence of important techniques of the Chimus, which are
based at the same time on Moche art with its brilliant sculptural ceramics, they also had the
influence of the Tiahunaco who bequeathed them the manufacturing technique and the use of
ceremonial vessels such as the " Kero", and other cultures that contributed...
Most used shapes in Inca Ceramics

THE ARYBALO

Inca pottery was characterized by the introduction of a new ceramic form, the so-called aríbalo,
that is, a large globular jug with a conical base that usually included two vertical side handles, with
a high neck that could be planted in the ground. , like the amphorae of classical antiquity. The
Aribalo was used to transport water and other liquids.

THE ANDEAN KERO

A kero (also called qeru or quero) is an ancient Andean pottery where alcoholic liquids such as
fermented chicha were used to be drunk. It was usually made of metal or wood, traditionally used
in Andean festivals.

Keros were frequently used as a ceremonial container by the Tiahuanaco and the Incas in
important religious ceremonies. They were generally decorated with precious stones and hand
painted with various geometric designs. The production of Kero was widely spread in different
Andean cultures.

INCA TEXTILE ART

INCA TEXTILE : Inca textile art was an ancient Inca tradition, its techniques
are still in force today. He developed five types of fabrics: The chusi, the
abasca, the cumbi, the plumería and the chaquira.
» See: Tahuantinsuyo | Incas

General data
Inca Textile:

TO. Role of Inca fabric :

The Incas included offerings of fabrics and blankets in their political,
military, economic, social, etc. events, in the form of pieces that were
exchanged, incinerated or “sacrificed” ceremonially.
b. Meaning of fabrics :
The fabric was a sign of social position and indicated the forced citizenship
of people. The Incas changed their clothing constantly. The state distributed
wool to family units to make blankets and clothing, and they were obliged to
weave one blanket a year for the Inca.
c. The weavers :
Possibly since the government of Pachacutec or Túpac Yupanqui, full-time
weavers were established. These weavers were divided into Cumbi
Camayoc, who only worked with high quality fibers, and the Acllas or
women who were in the Acllahuasi.
d. Characteristics of the Inca fabric:

✍ Raw Material: Auquénid wool (vicuña, alpaca).

✍ They were made: Mantles and clothing.

✍ Nobility clothing: It was called cumbi, it was made with fine vicuña wool.

✍ Village clothing: It was called abasca, it was made with alpaca wool
fabrics.
AND. Main fabrics :

✍ Abasca fabrics: (Mantles and ponchitos of the Hatunrunas) made of

camelid wool.

✍ Cumbi fabrics: (Very fine clothing) made of vicuña wool were decorated
with feathers, precious metals, beads and colored shells.

Inca Weaving Classes

Inca textile art offered five types of fabrics:

TO. Chusi fabric :

✍ Fabrics: made carpets and blankets.

✍ They wove some wefts as thick as your finger, because the weft thread
was a wool rope.

✍ It was also used as mattresses.

b. Abasca fabric :

✍ Material: It was made of llama and alpaca wool.

✍ Use: it was made for clothing of the Hatunrunas.

✍ Treatment: The wool was dyed before spinning; When not, it took on a
grayish color due to the white, black and brown fur of the animals that had
collaborated in making the skein. In some cases they knew how to mix it
with cotton, but for this reason it stopped being the most common fabric
and took less care than the ancient Peruvians achieved.

✍ The weavers of Abasco: according to Guamán Poma, they were named

Hua Camayoc.
c. Cumb i weave :

✍ Material: It was basically vicuña wool that they used to mix with vizcacha
hairs that were very soft and also bats.

✍ Use: it was used for the Inca and the nobility to dress.

✍ The weavers: When it came to Inca clothing, only the Acllas were in
charge of the weaving.

✍ Beauty of the fabric: When faced with cumbi fabrics, chroniclers marveled
at their careful workmanship and chromatic showiness, as well as their
brightness and thinness.
d. Plumeria Fabric :

✍ Material: Interwoven colored feathers.

✍ Use: The feathers sit on the cumbi but in such a way that the feather
comes out on the wool and covers it like velvet.

✍ Feature: These plumeria dresses were waterproof to rain water.

AND. Bead weaving :

✍ Stands out: for being the most precious of all fabrics.

✍ Material: These beads were very delicate gold and silver beads.

✍ Characteristic: The entire piece (fabric) was filled with these little beads
without it looking like thread, like very tight mesh clothing.

Inca Textile Techniques

Inca textile techniques:

INCA TEXTILE TECHNIQUES

TECHNIQUES MAIN FEATURES

 Used to knit thicker garments.
UPHOLSTERY
It required a fixed four-hand loom.

Used for the numerical markings of the quipus.

KNOTTED
It was also applied to the manufacture of scales.

It was the interweaving of a fabric with threads of other textile

materials.
BROCADE

It was a common technique in the production of cloth.

It was used to weave the most striking uncus and bags.

WARP FACE
It was the spinning of a face of different colors on a wool base
fabric.