Small Female Figure, Possibly a Finial for Pin or Blade Possibly 1450 - 1532

This tiny female figure was created by an Inca artist, likely as a finial for a pin or blade. The Incas, based in modern-day Peru, were master metalworkers. The figure’s small size and the material it’s made from suggest it was a luxury item, perhaps owned by someone of high social standing. The figure's posture, hands clasped at her stomach, is also interesting. We see specific features of Inca culture. The position of the hands, the headdress and even the production of the figure itself might have been shaped by the religious beliefs, social class structures, or political movements of the time. Was it conservative, supporting the status quo, or progressive, perhaps critiquing the social structures of the time? These are the questions a social historian might ask when faced with such an object. By consulting archaeological records, accounts from the Spanish conquest, and studies of Inca social structures, we can begin to understand the role this small figure played in its own time. The meaning of art is always contingent on its social and institutional context.