Trephining in Andient Peru, from "The History of Medicine" / Robert Thom
About this Item
Record Details
- Accession Number
- UMHS.3
- Title
- Trephining in Andient Peru, from "The History of Medicine"
- Artist
- Robert Thom
- Artist Nationality
- American
- Artist Life Dates
- 1915-1979
- Medium and Support
- oil on canvas
- Object Creation Date
- circa 1952
- Object Creation Place
- North and Central America (continent)
- United States (nation)
- Michigan (state)
- Creation Place 1
- North and Central America (continent)
- Creation Place 2
- United States (nation)
- Creation Place 3
- Michigan (state)
- Dimensions
- 175.26 cm x 144.78 cm (69 in. x 57 in.)
- Century
- 20th century
- Primary Object Classification
- Painting
- Physical Description
- On the dry, sun-swept Pacific coastline of the Paracas peninsula, a first-century Peruvian surgeon is beginning a trephining operation with the aid of knives of glass-hard obsidian, a crude plant narcotic, cotton, and bandages. Assistants immobilize the patient, and a priest seeks supernatural intervention throuh incanations and prayers as the slow and highly hazardous operation proceeds. Peru was the center of intensive practice of trephining in the New World, where the operation (opening of the skulls of living patients) can be traced from well before dawn of the Christian era to the twentieth century.
- Secondary Keywords
- disciplines
- health sciences
- people
- people (agents)
- people and culture
- people by occupation
- people in health and medicine
- people in science-related occupations
- science and related disciplines
- scientists and people in science-related occupations
- Rights
- If you are interested in using an image for a publication, please visit https://umma.umich.edu/about/services/request-image/ for more information and to fill out the online Image Rights and Reproductions Request Form.
Technical Details
- Collection
- University of Michigan Museum of Art
- Record
- UMHS.3
- Link to this Item
-
https://quod.lib.umich.edu/m/musart/x-umhs.3/umhs.3.jpg
Rights and Permissions
Related Links
Portfolios
- In public portfolios
Cite this Item
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- Full citation
-
"Trephining in Andient Peru, from "The History of Medicine"; Robert Thom." In the digital collection University of Michigan Museum of Art. https://quod.lib.umich.edu/m/musart/x-umhs.3/umhs.3.jpg. University of Michigan Library Digital Collections. Accessed June 16, 2024.
