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Artworks
Altar Frontal Plates, Puno, Viceroyalty of Peru， circa 1700–1735
Repoussé, chased and punch-decorated silver
58.5 × 58.5 cm (central plate); 57.5 × 58.5 cm；58.5 × 58.5 cm (lateral plates)
Weight: 4,310 g (central plate); and 3,500 g and 3,610 g (lateral plates)Further images
These three silver plates once formed part of the central section of an altar frontal (antipendium). The principal plate depicts the Agnus Dei, the Lamb of God carrying a banner and resting upon the Book of the Seven Seals, an image associated with the Eucharist and the Passion of Christ. Beneath the lamb appear five wounds recalling the stigmata of Saint Francis of Assisi, suggesting a Franciscan context.The surrounding decoration includes cornucopias, hybrid mascarons, sirens with foliated tails, herons, and scrolling ribbons—motifs derived from European Mannerist prints but interpreted through the rich ornamental vocabulary of the Andean Baroque. The lateral plates mirror one another and feature a central bird, likely a dove, surrounded by vegetal scrolls and grotesque masks.Although the plates bear no hallmarks, their dense ornament, repoussé technique, and iconographic program closely relate them to altar frontals produced in workshops around Lake Titicaca. Comparable examples survive in churches along the royal road between Cuzco and Puno, including works associated with the silversmith Eugenio de Chávez.Read Essay
