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Quipu

Arts of the Americas

This is a hybrid quipu, combining both administrative and narrative elements. The primary cord indicates that it is complete, with the short end knot on the left signifying the beginning of the cord registry and the long dangle cord on the right denoting the end. Like the nearby administrative quipu, it has tiers of knots, but they do not follow the traditional knot-space-knot format, and the descending order of knot types is not in a logical numeric sequence. In addition, many of the long knots are longer (more than nine twists) than those on decimal quipus, suggesting that this example may have had both an administrative and a narrative function. Knots with more than nine twists may signify an object or an activity, rather than a number.
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Este es un quipu híbrido, que combina elementos administrativos y narrativos. La cuerda primaria indica que se completa con el nudo de extremo corto, lo cual representa el comienzo de la cuerda de registro; la cuerda de colgado largo, a mano derecha, denota el final. Igual que el quipu administrativo contiguo, tiene hileras de nudos, pero no siguen el formato tradicional nudo-espacio-nudo, y el orden descendiente de tipos de nudos no sigue una secuencia numérica lógica. Además, muchos de los nudos largos (con más de nueve giros) son más largos que los presentes en los quipus decimales, lo cual sugiere que este ejemplar puede haber tenido tanto una función administrativa como narrativa. Los nudos con más de nueve giros pueden representar un objeto o una actividad, en lugar de un número.
CULTURE Inca
MEDIUM Cotton
DATES 1400–1532
PERIOD Late Horizon Period
DIMENSIONS 20 1/2 × 34 5/8 in. (52 × 88 cm)  (show scale)
COLLECTIONS Arts of the Americas
ACCESSION NUMBER 36.413
CREDIT LINE Gift of Mrs. Eugene Schaefer
MUSEUM LOCATION This item is not on view
CAPTION Inca. Quipu, 1400–1532. Cotton, 20 1/2 × 34 5/8 in. (52 × 88 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Gift of Mrs. Eugene Schaefer, 36.413. Creative Commons-BY (Photo: , 36.413_PS9.jpg)
IMAGE overall, 36.413_PS9.jpg., 2018
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RIGHTS STATEMENT Creative Commons-BY
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Inca. <em>Quipu</em>, 1400–1532. Cotton, 20 1/2 × 34 5/8 in. (52 × 88 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Gift of Mrs. Eugene Schaefer, 36.413. Creative Commons-BY (Photo: , 36.413_PS9.jpg)