"En 1890, un grupo de guaqueros desenterraron sobre el río La Vieja, en el Quindío, un conjunto de piezas hechas en oro. Estatuillas de hombres y mujeres desnudos, cascos con figuras en relieve, poporos en forma de fruta e instrumentos musicales, eran parte de los deslumbrantes objetos. Habían sido puestos allí como ofrendas funerarias por el pueblo Quimbaya y luego de siglos bajo tierra volvían a brillar con la luz. A este grupo de piezas de admirable manufactura se le conoce como el Tesoro de los Quimbayas y este libro, del historiador del arte Pablo Gamboa Hinestrosa, reconoce el contexto cultural al momento de su extracción, traza su biografía y trata los asuntos artísticos de su orfebrería. Con las excepcionales fotografías de Juan Mayr, la historia del Tesoro conecta la obra de maestros orfebres precolombinos con el tiempo presente."--Page 4 of cover.
In the remote past, funeral offerings were deposited for the purpose of accompanying and preserving the dead in their transit to the afterlife. This was the case of a treasure discovered in 1890, in the in the river La Vieja in the mountains of Quindío, and that over the years would be called the Treasure of the Quimbayas, a set of pieces made of gold that, due to their variety and artistic quality, make up a true masterpiece of pre-Columbian goldsmithing, emblem of Colombian identity and cultural heritage. But despite this, the Treasury was alienated in Spain in 1892 by an unconstitutional gift from the then ruler of Colombia, Carlos Holguín, to the Spanish queen regent, after the commemorative exhibition of the fourth centenary of the arrival in America. And never again to returned to Colombia. The trasure is now part of the permanent collection of the Museo de América in Madrid (Spain). "This group of pieces of admirable manufacture is known as the Treasure of the Quimbayas and this book, by art historian Pablo Gamboa Hinestrosa, recognizes the cultural context at the time of its extraction, traces its biography and deals with the artistic issues of its goldsmithing. With the exceptional photographs of Juan Mayr, the history of the Treasure connects the work of pre-Columbian master goldsmiths with the present time." (HKB Translation) --Page 4 of cover.
