Inca Goldwork Craft

Timeline

1. 1438–1450Cusco · PeruAfter accession Pachacuti carried out a large-scale rebuilding of Cusco, restoring the Temple of the Sun (Qorikancha) into a golden sanctuary: inner walls covered with gold leaf, statues cast in solid gold, and a sacred garden with golden replicas of corn, llamas, and other plants. Pachacuti established a ritual system in which gold symbolized sacred kingship, and the court goldsmith group (Qorikancha yana) became a professional group under strict state control.
2. 1451–1460Cusco and the empire's provinces · Andean regionOver this decade Pachacuti greatly expanded Inca territory, conquering large tracts in the north of Chinchaysuyu and the south of Qollasuyu, thereby gaining control of many gold-producing areas. Goldwork production expanded in scale, with object types including tupu pin ornaments, Capaqocha ritual golden figurines, ceremonial qero drinking cups, and gift goldwork for appeasing local elites.
3. c. 1430–1533Royal workshops of Cusco · PeruInca goldsmiths mastered cold hammering techniques, able to hammer gold into extremely thin foil for covering building walls. Lost-wax casting (cire perdue) techniques arrived from Mesoamerica and were used for three-dimensional human and animal figures. Craftsmen also excelled at gold-copper alloy (tumbaga) and gold-silver alloys, using depletion gilding to give objects a pure-gold surface appearance, saving precious metal while ensuring visual effect.
4. 1532–1540Cajamarca and Cusco · PeruIn 1532 Pizarro captured the Inca emperor Atahualpa and, after receiving a roomful of gold (about six tons) as ransom, still executed him. Subsequently the Spanish conquerors systematically plundered the gold of Cusco and temples everywhere; hundreds of gold sculptures from Qorikancha were almost all melted into ingots and shipped to Spain. Very few Inca gold objects survive, scattered in the Larco Museum in Peru and several European museums, with excavated archaeological finds being the main basis for understanding the craft.