Shamans, Supernaturals & Animal Spirits: Mythic Figures From the Ancient Andes

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Three-Dimensional Votive Effigy or Puppet
Llama with Condor Markings
Central or South Coast culture
AD 1000-1476?
Camelid wool; cross-knit looping, twisting
11½" long
Andean ritual art and iconography reflects widespread religious practices involving
the sacrifice of llamas to the divinities and ancestors.
Painted pottery sculpted in the form of llama or camelid heads was produced by various
cultures (including Wari). These ceramics were dedicated as offerings or used as vessels
for substances (such as llama fat) that were burnt during rites of veneration. During the
Inka period, miniature stone sculptures representing alpacas and llamas with long fleecy
manes (conopas) were featured in ceremonies devoted to increasing animal fertility and
the size of the herds. Such votive objects contained cavities that could be packed with
sacred ashes for propitiating the cosmic powers.
This engaging knitted figure may be a textile version of that sort of figure. The tubular
hollow form was left open at one end, allowing it to be worn as a glove or hand puppet.
Was this expressive object indeed animated in some fashion? Perhaps it played a role
during a ceremony or a dramatic enactment of a story or myth.
Andean people also have a precise system for the classification and naming of the
camelids’ varied colors and patterning. Based on that well-documented and historic
tradition, this woven object can be identified as an allqa llama or alpaca, so named for
its sharply contrasting dark and light patches, which allude to the falcon's plumage. A
white collar or band around the figure’s neck, which similarly mimics the condor's ruff,
extends the avian comparison.
As is still the custom today among the pastoralists of the Andean highlands, the animal’s
ears are adorned with decorative tufts of colored wool.
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