any Classical sculpture from ancient Greece or Rome. As the Nazca vessel in fig. 3 trenchantly demonstrates, ceramics from approximately the same time period could also be endowed with fantastic imagery that can be called “intellectually realist” because of the imaginative subjectivity that comes into play. Ancient Peruvian textile artists also frequently represented the human form—including, as our subject here, the face—but it can reasonably be said that they never did so with the detailed anatomical realism evident in ceramics. This is surprising since the extraordinary talents of these textile artists clearly would have enabled them to portray an embroidered or woven face with the same realistic acumen demonstrated by European Medieval and Renaissance tapestry weavers. Instead the Peruvian artisans generally limited their depictions of the face to the primary identifiers of eyes, nose, and mouth (but rarely ears). Was this a matter of authoritarian guidance or subjective artistic license? While not all major Peruvian textile-producing cultures were as hierarchically structured as incontrovertible evidence shows the Incas to have been, earlier societies do appear to have possessed authoritarian characteristics. Given the lack of clear documentation in these nonliterate societies, we can only wonder to what degree the state defined the artistic parameters for facial representation and to what degree individual artists—who were primarily women—indulged their personal inspiration. The absence of written language during the approximately 2,300 years of civilization that preceded the Spanish Conquest of Peru in 1532/33 is another major factor that contributes to our questions about the intent of these weavings. Unlike many of the world’s ancient civilizations, there exists no written reference equivalent to the Rosetta Stone to throw light upon the specific meanings of the many facial forms and expressions, whether woven in figurative, pictographic, or abstract styles. Evasive clues remain, however. The Quechua idiom extends back to the Inca and is still spoken today in South America by millions of highland Andean indigenous people. It was not officially recorded until the sixteenth century, first by the indigenous chronicler Guaman Poma de Ayala (c. 1535–after 1616) and then in dictionary form. Though late, Quechua provides some insight. At its height, c. AD 1500, the Inca Empire extended from southern Colombia down to the Bío Bío River in Chile and to northwestern Argentina. Given the vastness of the Inca reach, certain Quechua arawis (poems), jaillis (sacred hymns), and qashwas (dances with words) provide strikingly lucid insight into the generic Andean way of thinking, even though they were recorded after the Conquest. These, in combination with hallowed ceremonies still performed that evoke the bygone days of the Inca, form a valuable though limited frame of reference for the concepts of antiquity. This author has personally accompanied village curacas (chiefs) up to 18,000-foot mountain peaks to chant their eulogy to the sun: Inti yayaykuq, orqop patamki qonqorikuyku (O Sun, supreme deity, we on our knees on the mountain, revere you) FIG. 3 (right): Detail of a polychrome vessel with winged figures. Nazca, South Coast, Peru. AD 100–800. Terracotta. H: 17.8 cm. Private collection. FIG. 1 (left): Detail of an embroidered mantle with multiple composite personages. Mummy 319, Wari Kayan Necropolis, Paracas- Necropolis, Peru. 100 BC–AD 200. Camelid wool, cotton. 277.5 x 140 cm. Instituto Nacional de Cultura – Museo Nacional de Arqueologia, Antropologia e Historia del Perú, Lima, inv. #RT-1444. Photo: Daniel Giannoni. FIG. 2 (right): Portrait vessel. Moche, North Coast, Peru. 200 BC–AD 750. Terracotta. H: 18 cm. Ex Alfred Grandidier Collection. Musée du Quai Branly, Paris, 71.1887.129.4. Peruvian Faces
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