LIMA, July 19 (Xinhua) -- The "Silver of the Andes" exhibit showed skilled craftsmanship of Peruvian silversmiths from the 16th to the 19th centuries, said Lima Museum of Art Curator Luis Eduardo Wuffarden on Thursday.
Running through October, the exhibit features 300 works of art made of silver, some gold plated, as well as others encrusted with gems, which has a history of some 400 years.
The collection ranges from jewelry to religious and household objects, such as tea pots and candle-holders.
"These pieces belonged to the Creole elite," Wuffarden said, referring to the ruling class of European descent born in the Americas.
"But the use of silver extended in different ways to the indigenous elite also, for example their use of brooches and hair accessories," he added.
The exhibit showed how the art developed from pre-Columbian times through the Spanish colonial era, which brought with it European silver-working techniques, said Wuffarden, who is also a historian at Peru's Pontifical Catholic University (PUCP).
Inca chronicler Garcilaso de la Vega, who wrote several books about the Incas, described in detail the jewels found in the Temple of the Sun (Koricancha) in his native Cusco, said the curator.
"The Inca Garcilaso highly praised the silver and gold work that existed in the Koricancha," and "several of those pieces are here in this exhibit," he said.
The exhibit is unlikely to travel due to the risks involved in moving the precious and historic items on display, according to the organizers.
