Camelid Conopa
Arts of the Americas
Small stone figurines, or conopas, of llamas and alpacas were the most common ritual effigies used in the highlands of Peru and Bolivia. These devotional objects were often buried in the animals’ corrals to bring protection and prosperity to their owners and fertility to the herds. The cylindrical cavities in their backs were filled with offerings to the gods in the form of a mixture including animal fat, coca leaves, maize kernels, and seashells.
Pequeñas figurillas de piedra, o conopas, de llamas y alpacas eran las efigies rituales más comunes usadas en el altiplano de Perú y Bolivia. Estos objetos devocionales eran con frecuencia enterrados en los corrales de los animales para atraer protección para sus dueños y fertilidad a los rebaños. Las cavidades cilíndricas en sus espaldas se llenaban con ofrendas a los dioses en forma de una mezcla de grasa animal, hojas de coca, granos de maíz y conchas.
MEDIUM
Stone
DATES
1470–1532
PERIOD
Pre-Spanish
ACCESSION NUMBER
36.683
CREDIT LINE
Gift of Dr. John H. Finney
CATALOGUE DESCRIPTION
Small black stone vessel (conopa) in the form of a llama with a hole in the animal's back forming a small bowl. Stylized head with round muzzle, small rounded ears, and short protruding tail. Legs are not shown.
Condition: good.
MUSEUM LOCATION
This item is not on view
CAPTION
Inca. Camelid Conopa, 1470–1532. Stone, 2 x 3 x 1in. (5.1 x 7.6 x 2.5cm). Brooklyn Museum, Gift of Dr. John H. Finney, 36.683. Creative Commons-BY (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, 36.683_bw.jpg)
IMAGE
36.683_bw.jpg. Brooklyn Museum photograph
"CUR" at the beginning of an image file name means that the image was created by a curatorial staff member. These study images may be digital point-and-shoot photographs, when we don\'t yet have high-quality studio photography, or they may be scans of older negatives, slides, or photographic prints, providing historical documentation of the object.
RIGHTS STATEMENT
Creative Commons-BY
You may download and use Brooklyn Museum images of this three-dimensional work in accordance with a
Creative Commons license. Fair use, as understood under the United States Copyright Act, may also apply.
Please include caption information from this page and credit the Brooklyn Museum. If you need a high resolution file, please fill out our online
application form (charges apply).
For further information about copyright, we recommend resources at the
United States Library of Congress,
Cornell University,
Copyright and Cultural Institutions: Guidelines for U.S. Libraries, Archives, and Museums, and
Copyright Watch.
For more information about the Museum's rights project, including how rights types are assigned, please see our
blog posts on copyright.
If you have any information regarding this work and rights to it, please contact
copyright@brooklynmuseum.org.
RECORD COMPLETENESS
Not every record you will find here is complete. More information is available for some works than for others, and some entries have been updated more recently. Records are frequently reviewed and revised, and
we welcome any additional information you might have.
How were these used?
These
vessels by the Inca were all intended for ceremonial purposes. Rituals for
fertility and protection occurred throughout the Andes, where farming, herding,
and trade were key aspects of life. These ritual vessels were filled with
offerings of llama fat, shells, coca leaves, etc. and buried in animal corrals
to promote animal fertility. All of these vessels come from the Inca, who built
an empire that encompassed nearly the entirety of the Andean highlands and coast
until the arrival of the Spanish.