Description

Keros, used to drink the maize beer chicha, were essential items of Inka statecraft. Made and used
in pairs, they reflect the important Andean concept of reciprocity. Native use of keros continued in the
colonial period, the date of these two examples, which come from separate pairs. The example with
geometric motifs is closest to pre-conquest models. On the second, two armies converge: the Inka, dressed in tunics with waistbands, and their opponents, perhaps jungle people whose body parts are heaped in a centerpiece.