Minitature Tray Depicting Suche Fish and Peppers Possibly 1450 - 1532

Curator: At the Art Institute of Chicago, we have this rather curious object: a Miniature Tray Depicting Suche Fish and Peppers. The tray is ceramic, likely created sometime between 1450 and 1532, and is rendered in tempera. What catches your eye first about this piece? Editor: It has an almost playful energy. The stylized fish, scattered peppers... it reminds me of simpler times, an ancient comic strip maybe, but with serious undertones. Curator: Yes, the Indigenous Americas produced strikingly graphic imagery. Fish, of course, carried potent symbolism across various cultures, linked to fertility and abundance but often representing much more complex concepts like the cyclical nature of life and the underworld. But consider how these objects also functioned within specific societies. Editor: Do you mean practically or symbolically? Because even the placement of peppers seems intentional. The association of fish and peppers is interesting. Does this tell us something about ritualistic food consumption? Or the origins of specific tastes? Curator: That’s where its social function as a tool intersects with symbolism, absolutely. Think of the vessel itself. Was it purely utilitarian, used for preparing or serving food? Or did its real importance lie in its ritual value and representation? I think we can ask further questions about access to materials, production time and value for an elite circle within Inca society. Editor: Or even whether these kinds of trays and the motifs used on them spoke about alliances and exchange networks? This combination hints at the interconnection of earth and sea. Maybe an image which shows some important origin belief in action? Curator: Precisely, an enactment through image and perhaps through ritual practices associated with food consumption. And how fascinating it is to ponder what it meant to possess and display such an artifact. It offered an opportunity for cultural expression and reinforcement of authority through carefully managed symbolism. Editor: Looking at it this way I realise the work contains hidden layers, between the literal subject and how it shows its culture. I hadn't anticipated diving so deeply into it! Curator: Absolutely! A vessel can tell stories about both social standing and broader cultural belief systems. It offers a little portal into daily and symbolic life that you would barely notice otherwise.