Object Notes

Although George Rickey worked as a painter in his youth, as early as the 1930s he was attracted to Alexander Calder's sculpture and its incorporation of movement. After World War II, he shifted to sculpture and devoted his artistic career to experimenting with motion in sculpture. Unlike Calder's works, Rickey's sculptures do not refer to natural forms.

Through twenty years of collaborative research, conservators and scholars have determined the materials and techniques used in the production of colonial wooden goblets, or quero. The polychrome surface was made through inlay with a resin known as mopa mopa (

The cups, or quero, produced during the Late Horizon (1400-1532 CE) did not generally feature painted figurative decoration but rather geometric or abstract designs within two to four registers. During the Spanish Colonial period, figural scenes became increasingly popular and complex, predominating on the upper register.

By the Spanish conquest, the tall wooden cup was called a quero (qero, kero

By the Spanish conquest, the tall wooden cup was called a quero (qero, kero), meaning “wood,” in Quechua.

By the Spanish conquest, the tall wooden cup was called a quero (qero, kero

By the Spanish conquest, the tall wooden cup was called a quero (qero, kero), meaning “wood,” in Quechua. The specialized wood carvers were known as querocamayoc.