Pre-Columbian, Southern Peru, Inca hinterlands (Chucu), ca. 1200 CE. A beautiful ceramic plaque with a rounded, slightly convex shape. The surface is painted with a dotted pattern of red, white, yellow, pale green, and shimmering black hues. Such plaques were made by smashing large vessels and painting the fragments. This piece appears to have been the bottom of a vessel. Plaques were placed as offerings to Pacha Mama and Pacha Papa (Mother and Father Earth) to protect the health of the livestock and the human inhabitants of the clan. The pigments on this piece are still vibrant and well preserved! Lucite stand for photography purposes only. Size: 6.75" Diameter x .25" W (17.1 cm x 0.6 cm)

These pottery pieces 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 such as 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 example, because they saw them as a threat to their trade in sacrificial alpacas, corn beer, and cloth.

This piece has been tested using thermoluminescence (TL) analysis and has been found to be ancient and of the period stated. A full report will accompany purchase.

Provenance: private Hawaii, USA collection; before 2011, ex-private Hillberg collection, California, USA

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#150800

Chips and nicks to peripheries. Loss to verso with chipping and active flaking of this area. Additional abrasion and loss to verso center. TL on verso near edge. Some fading of painted pigments but otherwise well preserved.