Khipu

Khipu

No of strings: 210 pendants (and 360 secondaries) Groups: 21 x 10 pendants - A,B,A,B,A,B (A=3 x 10 pendants) ( B= 4x 10 pendants, each with 2 secondaries) Colors: tans Color combinations: monochrome, speckled Strings: main, pendants, secondaries Ply: S Diameter: main 5mm, pendants 2-2,5mm Recto (tying pendant to mainstring) Knots:1/1 endknots (like a single knot) The quipu has no knots (apart from end knots). The last 3 pendants (of a B group) have no secondaries - maybe it is an unfinished quipu.

Object Details

• Location: Ethnologisches Museum, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin
• Inventory number: V A 37857
• Measurements: Länge x Breite: 40 x 66 cm
• Material/Technique: Baumwolle

Contributors, Places and Time

• Event: Herstellung
• (who): Julius van der Zypen (1906/1907), Mäzen*atin
• (where): Peru ; bei Lima
• (when): Inka 1450 - 1550
• Event: Sammeltätigkeit
• (who): Wilhelm Gretzer (1847 - 1926), Sammler*in

Further information

• Other object pages: Show object in "Collections from Colonial Contexts"
• Rights: Ethnologisches Museum, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin
• Last update: 06.08.2025, 12:23 AM CEST