Necklace Strung with Indigenous and Imported Beads
Chancay
c. 10th–16th century
Medium
Glass, shell, and ceramic with string
Dimensions
H.: 44.5 cm (17 1/2 in.)
Classification
bead
Department
Arts of the Americas
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Accession Number
51999
About the Artist
Chancay
The Chancay were a pre-Columbian culture that flourished along the central coast of Peru, in the valleys of the Huaura, Chancay, Chillón, and surrounding rivers, from approximately 1000 to 1470 CE. Emerging after the decline of the Wari civilization, the Chancay developed a distinctive artistic identity that set them apart from their Andean contemporaries, one defined above all by extraordinary ma...