Accession Number

1986.008.2947b

Creation Date

circa 1622

Description

Plain style. Ebony. Hole drilled in top and side. Worm-hole on side. See also 1986.008.2948a.

Exhibition Label

Case Caption (2023):

RELIGIOUS DEVOTIONS

Spain’s empire was won by conquest and the Spanish believed that their laws, leaders, and the Roman Catholic religion were superior to Indigenous customs, rulers, and spiritual practices.

Priests came to provide emigrants with spiritual support but also to convert Indigenous people. They hastened conversions by asserting that Jesus and the Virgin Mary were bigger, better manifestations of local gods. The Virgin Mary was quickly identified with Pachamama, the goddess of the earth. In 1532, the church that became Lima Cathedral was built on top of a major shrine to Inti, the Inca sun god and the palace of an Inca prince. The Spanish used this suppressive strategy successfully throughout their colonies.
Object Caption (2023):

Rosary Beads
Ebony (c.1620)
Gift of Jamestown Inc.
1986.008.0869a-d, 1986.008.2282b-c, 1986.008.2945 1986.008.2947a,b, 1986.008.2949a,c,d, 1986.008.2950a,c,d 1986.008.2951b-h

Large beads like these were most probably part of the oversized rosaries used by monks and other clerics.