Chuquibamba Ofrenda - Votive Tablet with Camelid Herd Painted on Pottery Fragment

A herd of camelids painted on a broken pot. Possibly a prayer for more.

This ofrenda, a votive tablet with a camelid herd painted on a pottery fragment, is from the Chuquibamba culture of Chucu, Arequipa, Peru, 13th century, in earthenware and pigment. In the Andes, where llamas and alpacas meant food, wool and transport, painted offerings like these are thought to have been asked to protect and increase the herds. Rows of stylized animals in red, yellow and dark brown stand on either side of a banded arc in green and red. Fine cracks cross the surface. It measures 9.25 inches wide and 9.75 high.

Herd management has seldom been more hopeful.