Pre-Columbian, southern Peru, Inca hinterlands (Chucu), ca. 1000 to 1500 CE. A very rare, beautiful ceramic plaque, trapezoidal in form, with a checkerboard-style series of motifs - horizontally, four alpacas, four humans, four alpacas, and four humans. Beautiful white, yellow, and sparkling silver/grey pigment (made from mica) colors the buff surface of the plaque, creating the iconography. Their minimalist form resembles rock art. Plaques like this were placed as offerings to Pacha Mama and Pacha Papa (Mother and Father Earth) to insure health among the livestock and among human inhabitants of the clan. Size: 8" W x 7" H (20.3 cm x 17.8 cm)

These plaques were made by smashing large vessels and painting the fragments. They have been discovered in a number of different contexts: beneath wall foundations, in graves, with animal sacrifices, and cached in prominent places in the landscape, like in springs, rock hollows, and atop hills. They are often discovered in pairs, with the painted surfaces placed so that they are facing each other, sometimes wrapped in leaves or even gold sheet. Although the tablet tradition began centuries before, the time period that this one comes from represents the height of the artform, and corresponds to an intensification of agriculture, the rise of interregional trade networks, and the ascendancy of certain important confederations of clans. Into this potent mix, the Inca expanded into the region and the tablet tradition abruptly ended. It seems likely that the Inca, who colonized regions in part by sponsoring local ritual activities, outlawed the creation of religious tablets like this because they saw them as a threat to their trade in sacrificial alpacas, corn beer, and cloth.

Provenance: private Hawaii, USA collection, before 2010; ex-private Hillberg collection, California, USA

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#133805

Light fading to the pigment with wear commensurate with age on surface and edges. Overall in very nice condition, with well-preserved motifs. Comes with attached plate holder to hang it on the wall.