© Michael C. Carlos Museum, Emory University. Photo by Michael McKelvey.

ClassificationsArt of the Americas

Tumi (Ceremonial Knife) with Llama Head

AAT Object Form/FunctionTumi

Place CreatedPeru, South America

CultureInka

PeriodLate Intermediate - Late Horizon

Date1438-1532 CE

MediumBronze

Credit LineGift of William C. and Carol W. Thibadeau

Dimensions5 3/8 x 5 3/8 in. (13.7 x 13.7 cm)

Object number1989.008.051

Exhibition HistorySeeing with New Eyes: Pre-Columbian Art from the Thibideau Collection, Emory University Museum of Art and Archaeology, March 4 - October 13, 1992
MCCM Permanent Collection Galleries, May 11, 1993 - May 1, 1996
Tears of the Moon: Ancient American Precious Metals from the Permanent Collection, Michael C. Carlos Museum, October 16, 1996 - October 16, 1998
MCCM Permanent Collection Reinstallation, September 13, 2002 - June 2012
MCCM Permanent Collection Reinstallation, February 9, 2013 - June 19,2017
Threads of Time: Tradition and Change in Indigenous American Textiles, Michael C. Carlos Museum, August 19 - December 17, 2017
MCCM Permanent Collection Galleries, February 2018 - March 13, 2019
MCCM Permanent Collection Galleries, July 2, 2019 - Present
Published ReferencesRebecca Stone-Miller, Art of the Andes: From Chavin to Inca (New York: Thames and Hudson, 1995), 214, figure 178.
Michael C. Carlos Museum Handbook (Atlanta: Michael C. Carlos Museum, 1996), 90.
Rebecca Stone-Miller, Seeing With New Eyes: Highlights of the Michael C. Carlos Museum Collection of Art of the Ancient Americas (Atlanta: Michael C. Carlos Museum, 2002), 210, figure 477.
Craig Morris and Adriana von Hagen, The Incas: Lords of the Four Quarters (Thames & Hudson, 2011), 101, figure 69.
"Dialogues in Thread: the Quechua Concepts of Ayni, Ukhu, Tinku, Q'iwa, and Ushay, " Threads of Time: Tradition and Change in Indigenous American Textiles, 2017, http://threads-of-time.carlos.emory.edu/exhibits/show/essays/dialoguesinthread; http://threads-of-time.carlos.emory.edu/items/show/14.

ProvenanceEx coll. William (1920-2002) and Carol (1921-2019) Thibadeau, Atlanta, Georgia, purchased from Kenneth Klassen, Bogota, Colombia, October 9, 1984.

Status

On view

Collections

Art of the Americas

Technical NotesSurface corrosion preserves evidence of the textiles that were wrapped around the tumi for burial. The textile threads were replaced by corrosion pseudo morphs that reproduce the weave pattern. Close examination of the corrosion products on the large tumi reveals a plainweave textile.