New photography by Shannon Ruff captured with a digital camera-2006.

Kero

Artist Unknown

DatePost Classic Period

MediumWood | Polychrome

DimensionsOverall: 7 3/4 x 6 3/4 in. (19.7 x 17.1 cm)

ClassificationsLatin American

Credit LineGift of Walter P. Chrysler, Jr.

Object number71.2429

Terms

Ceremony
Ochre
Red
White

Collections

Ancient American Art

On View

On view

DescriptionKero (or quero) cup used in greeting ceremony in which officials drank chicha, fermented corn liquor or maize beer. Custom adopted by Spanish. South American form. Of wood & lacquer pigmented paint. Two incised bands at bottom. Overpainted with ochre & red. Two mid-bands not incised. One top band (ochre) not incised. Bottom register: conventionalized floral motif with hummingbirds. Top register: Pair of arched rainbows on opposite sides springing from jaguar heads. Rainbows divide register into four parts: two over the jaguar heads and two under the rainbows. Spaces over jaguar heads contain bird & stylized feline head. Spaces under rainbows contain: 1) female figure holding lilies background filled with white dots symbolizing stars as sky; 2) male figure in Inca dress (tunis over long pants, cape, and headdress) offering to feline deity surrounded by 2 birds. Two vertical cracks in top rim. Two in bottom. Heavily waxed. Paint surface losses bottom one side. Repaint (black in jaguar faces & female head).