Pre-Columbian, southern Peru, Inca hinterlands (Chucu), ca. 1000 to 1500 CE. A rare large, stone example of a Chucu plaque. It features a powerful visual ordering of space with three vibrant natural pigments used as well as a sparkling silver glaze over the natural stone: yellow, umber, and white. Arranged in stepped patterns, these may be a representation of crops or land usage, or a standard for a prominent clan or kin group. The Chucu people lived near Arequipa in southern Peru. Size: 14.4" W x 12" H (36.6 cm x 30.5 cm); 14.45" H (36.7 cm) on included custom stand.
Most Chucu plaques were made by smashing large vessels and painting the fragments; a rarer few like this one were made using stone, probably repurposed from architectural contexts. 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: ex-Robert Morris, Santa Fe, New Mexico, USA, from the 1990s
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#151523
Condition
Light fading to the pigment with wear commensurate with age on surface and edges. Overall in very nice condition, with well-preserved motifs.