An Inca "Epic Hymn" In A Colonial Quero: Presentation And Preliminary Study

The existence of an Inca tradition of narrative pictorial representations, acting as historical records, has been substantiated by both a group of works of art, very probably of pre-Hispanic origin, and written sources. Clearly, the best known reference to "historical paintings" of the Incas is that regarding the famous, today dissapeared "tables of Poquen Cancha," which existed and were consulted until mid-1560s at least. It has been postulated that, during the Colonial period, part of these "historical paintings" may have been copied on different types of media, such as canvases and queros. In this article, the authors analyze the scene of an armed conflict represented in a quero, unusual in terms of its complexity and richness of detail, and put forth the hypothesis that it may be the representation of the conflict between the Incas and the Chancas.