1952.43.22 Staff of office, Chieftain's Vara Stick (Peru (southern highlands), 20th century)

This tall staff is made from a hard wood and ornamented with brass and iron sheet metal at the cap and along the shaft at even intervals. The metal cap is decorated with an animate sun at the top, as well as a flowering vase and a Latin cross around the sides. These elements reflect the official, and likely ceremonial, role of the staff-bearer in the community and religious festivals. Adopted from official Spanish Colonial examples, such Andean staffs symbolize the authority of certain male individuals within their community.

Kimberly L. Jones, PhD, Inca: Conquests of the Andes / Los Incas y las conquistas de los Andes, Label text, 2015. 

Quechua: AAT: 300017928

Native Andean: AAT: 300017918

Andes (mountain system) : TGN : 7016589

Bolivia (nation): TGN: 1000046

Macha (inhabited place): TGN: 1020338

wood: AAT: 300011914

brass (alloy): AAT: 300010946

iron (metal): AAT: 300011002

woodworking: AAT: 300054083

metalwork: AAT: 300015336

metalworking: AAT: 300053946

sheet metal: AAT: 300223016

carving: AAT: 300053149

Modern (style or period): AAT: 300264736

staffs (staff weapon components): AAT: 300204653

bands (decorative): DMA

rings (object genres): AAT: 300263678

floral patterns: AAT: 300010135

flower (motif): AAT: 300375563

plant-derived motifs: AAT: 300164599

vases: AAT: 300132254

crosses (motifs): AAT: 300010044

faces (animal or human components): AAT: 300251798

suns (stars): AAT: 300379806

anthropomorphic: AAT: 300010335

geometric patterns: AAT: 300165213

geometric motifs: AAT: 300009764

dots (geometric motif): AAT: 300010145

scrolls (spirals/motifs): AAT: 300010094

male: AAT: 300189559

social status: AAT: 300065206

chieftains: AAT: 300025445

chief: DMA

From 1952: Dallas Museum of Fine Arts, Dallas Art Association Purchase [3], [4], [5]

[1] The main source for this provenance is letter from Aurora Archer to Jerry Bywaters, Director of the Dallas Museum of Fine Arts (dated November 05, 1952, copy in Dallas Museum of Art Collections Records Object File, Confidential). Exceptions and other supporting documents are noted.

[2] The main source for this provenance is letter from Jerry Bywaters, Director of the Dallas Museum of Fine Arts, to Aurora Archer (dated November 14, 1952, copy in Dallas Museum of Art Collections Records Object File, Confidential). Exceptions and other supporting documents are noted.

[3] The main source for this provenance is existing information in TMS. Exceptions and other supporting documents are noted.

[4] The main source for this provenance is Object Information Card (n.d., copy in Dallas Museum of Art Collections Records Object File, Confidential). Exceptions and other supporting documents are noted.

[5] The Dallas Arts Association is the predecessor to the Dallas Museum of Fine Arts. The name was abandoned in 1970. Works from this collection were transferred to the Dallas Museum of Fine Arts. The name of the Dallas Museum of Fine Arts, founded in 1933, was changed to the Dallas Museum of Art in 1983.

Apply to objects where number equals 1952.43.22