The Inca Empire (1438-1532), located in the Andean region, was the largest Pre-Columbian empire until Spanish conquistadors began taking control in 1533. Primarily based in Cuzco, Peru, Incas still held office under colonial rule until the Spanish ultimately quelled the last Inca state in 1572.This Peruvian sculpture - a disembodied right forearm and hand holding a kero - is believed to originate from the Incas and predates conquest. However, the kero is an object that survived colonization, albeit with stylistic changes. The kero, typically produced in pairs, were wooden vessels used in ceremonies for drinking chichi, a maize based beer, or a cocoa drink. Traditionally they were painted with geometric designs until the arrival of the Spanish when figuration on these vessels became the norm.“Kero (Waisted Cup).” Cleveland Museum of Art, 6 Oct. 2021, https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1957.143#.This ceramic sculpture was likely an effigy to the ritual of consumption. Disembodied heads and hands were common motifs in Mesoamerican and Andean cultures, with the right hand and body symbolizing great strength and a connection to the supernatural.Palka, Joel W. “Left/Right Symbolism and the Body in Ancient Maya Iconography and Culture.” Latin American Antiquity, vol. 13, no. 4, 2002, pp. 419–443, https://doi.org/10.2307/972224.

Kero