Pin Item Number: Sf1016 from the MOA: University of British Columbia
Description
Pair of metal, spoon-shaped pins with pointed shafts. The metal has a yellowish cast; bowl of both spoons has a simple repousse design of three arched lines repeated in reflective symmetry. The throat of the pin is decorated with reverse curve strips of metal soldered to each side. Twine joins the pins together and is attached through one loop of the reverse curve.
History Of Use
Pins have been used for many centuries to fasten the rectangular woven garments like bodices and shoulder shawls worn by Andean women. In pre-Spanish times, the pin had a flat disc and tapered shaft. Spoons came to be re-shaped as pins after the conquest when the spaniards imported spoons. Size and decoration vary greatly. Today, the 'tupu' has been replaced by a beaded blanket pin which is used by women or men to close their clothing. The blanket pin, called a 'wallka tipana', is often worn as jewellery. There is an elaborate style for single people and a more austere version for married people.
Cultural Context
decorative
Narrative
The seller, Trefona Marca Quispe, and her brother Andolin remember their grandmother, Candelaria Flores Machaca, wearing the spoon-shaped pins with a black bodice called 'tipana'. The pins were old then, but no one knows how old. Trefona added the cord to the pins when she demonstrated how they were used to fasten the shoulder are of the rectangular bodice called a 'tipana'.
Item History
- Made in Taquile, Puno, Peru between 1800 and 1900
- Collected by Mary Frame during November 1987
- Owned by Trefona Marca Quispe and Rosa Quispe Flores
- Owned by Mary Frame before November 3, 1987
- Received from Mary Frame (Seller) and Museum of Anthropology Shop Volunteers (Funding source) on November 3, 1987
What
Who
- Culture
- Quechua
- Field Collector
- Mary Frame
- Previous Owner
- Trefona Marca Quispe, Rosa Quispe Flores and Mary Frame
- Received from
- Mary Frame (Seller) and Museum of Anthropology Shop Volunteers (Funding source)
Where
- Holding Institution
- MOA: University of British Columbia
- Made in
- Taquile, Puno, Peru
When
- Creation Date
- between 1800 and 1900
- Collection Date
- during November 1987
- Ownership Date
- before November 3, 1987
- Acquisition Date
- on November 3, 1987
Other
- Item Classes
- metalwork
- Condition
- good
- Current Location
- Case 95
- Accession Number
- 1274/0034