Portrait of a Ñusta, early 18th c.
Museo Inka, Cuzco, Peru.

This full-length image depicts a ñusta, or Inka noblewoman. Her outfit is elegant, a lliclla embroidered with flowers, bordered with tocapu, and worn over an acsu. At her side appear a dwarf and parrot. However, this is not a pre-Hispanic relic (no such portraits are known to have been made by the pre-Hispanic Inka), but rather a European-style oil painting created in Cuzco probably two hundred years after the Inka had been usurped by the Spanish.

For elite Andeans throughout the colonial period, connections to the Inka nobility provided invaluable social currency, and images such as this one sometimes “documented” membership among the highest social ranks of indigenous society. No less importantly, such paintings offered a way of remembering and renewing ties to Inka antiquity, both real and imaginary. However, unlike keros, a native Andean form, both the media and genre of painted portraits were appropriated from European models.

This painting bears no name, leaving ambiguous who is pictured here. Similar works—more clearly depicting coyas—exist. As colonial-era recollections of the Inka imperial past, such “royal portraits” were meant to be paired with images of the corresponding Sapa Inka. Because this painting lacks such a label, it could be a portrait of an actual colonial-era elite woman, wearing “neo-Inka” clothing specifically designed to evoke those pre-Hispanic times.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Dean, Carolyn. 1999. Inka Bodies and the Body of Christ: Corpus Christi in Colonial Cuzco, Peru. Durham: Duke University Press.

Flores Ochoa, Jorge. 1990. El Cuzco. Resistencia y continuidad. Cuzco: Centro de Estudios Andinos Cuzco.

Wuffarden, Luís Eduardo. 2004. “Portrait of a Nusta,” In The Colonial Andes: Tapestries and Silverwork, 1530-1830. Ed. Elena Phipps, Johanna Hecht and Cristina Esteras Martín. Pp. 160-163. New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art.

	Acsu: (Quechua) An indigenous-style woman’s skirt or dress, made of a length of uncut fabric, known as an acsu in the Cuzco area, and as an anaco in others. Also aqsu. back to text
	Coya: (Quechua) The highest ranking woman in the Inka empire in pre-Hispanic times, and wife of the Sapa Inka (ruler). Later, any Andean elite woman claiming descent from the Inka royal family. Also qoya. back to text
	Cuzco: (Quechua) Andean city that was the Inka capital in pre-Hispanic times, now in Peru. Also Cusco, Q'osqo. back to text
	Inka: (Quechua) The empire built by a group of Quechua-speaking Andeans in the 14th and 15th centuries that stretched from Ecuador to Chile. "Sapa Inka" was the title of its supreme ruler, and its capital city was Cuzco. Also Inca. back to text
	Kero: (Quechua) A drinking vessel, made of metal or wood, traditionally used in Andean feasts. Also qeru. back to text
	Lliclla: (Quechua) A shawl, pinned in front with a tupu, worn by Andean women. Also lliqlla or lliklla. back to text
	Ñusta: (Quechua) An indigenous Andean noblewoman, often descended from the rulers of the Inka empire. back to text
	Pre-Hispanic: (English) The time before America's discovery and conquest by Spain; synonymous with pre-Columbian (before Columbus). back to text
	Sapa Inka: (Quechua) The title of the supreme ruler of the Inka empire in pre-Hispanic times. The Sapa Inka was, according to historical documents, a male ruler. Inka queens were called coyas. Also Sapa Inca. back to text
	Tocapu: (Quechua) Woven cloth with a design of small, individually patterned rectangles worn only by the highest native elite in the Andes. Also tokapu, toq’apu. back to text

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