Description
Vintage Peruvian Folk Art Traditional Mate Burilado Carved Gourd 3.5" wide x 2.5" tall, extremely well detailed, telling a story as shown. This is a nice old one circa mid 20th century with a fantastic patina and no issues.
People from the valley at the basin of the Mantaro River, who are known as huancas, produce carved gourds, masks, jewelry, embroidery, ceramics and textiles for the national and international markets. In the 1930s, after the introduction of highways and railroads brought low-cost industrial products into the market, many of these crafts evolved from functional to decorative, replacing the use of the traditional vessels.
On the gourds you can see stories ranging from cultural events—celebrations, folklore, myths and tragedies—to displays of everyday life. However, carved gourds incorporate more than just visual storytelling as the textural qualities of the gourd offer a new perspective to understanding the story itself.
The gourds are brought to Cochas from traveling merchants, and after a gourd is skinned, cleaned and dried, artists can begin carving to create a three-dimensional design. Some artisans even use a burning technique, called quemado, to incorporate varying shades of brown to the art. They may also use the process called fondo negro to create black backgrounds on the carved gourds using fat and straw ash.
The Canto sisters use small engraving tools to create each design by hand. T
