Gourds, pipes, muiraquitãs: Amazonian archeology and the arts from the colonial period to modernism

Abstract The “Tesouro descoberto no máximo rio Amazonas” (1757-1776) by the Jesuit João Daniel is considered one of the main sources about the Amazon during the colonial period, and an important testimony about how knowledge of nature and indigenous cultural traditions were cornerstones for the development of arts in the Missions. Especially in the chapter “Das tintas mais especiais do rio Amazonas”, does Daniel reports on the Jesuits’ adoption of indigenous techniques and materials both to produce colors as well as paintings. At the same time, indigenous artists incorporated European and Asian ornamental motifs in objects of their own culture. This appears to indicate, in the field of archaeological and ethnographic research, that these cultural transfers occurred in various directions. On the other hand, also known in Brazilian modernism, is the use of indigenous motifs and/or the representation of Amazonian nature by artists such as Manoel Pastana, Theodoro Braga, Fernando Correia Dias or Carlos Hadler, who aimed at building a national repertoire for the decorative arts.