This fragment probably formed part of the decoration of a church interior. It features many of the motifs typically embossed on the lavish silver furnishings of Andean churches, even in the humblest of indigenous parishes. Andean silversmiths loved to pack the surfaces of massive silver altar frontals with variants of European-inspired designs, exemplified by the scrolling foliage, often sprouting leafy winged creatures, such as may be seen here. Bolder in execution than their Renaissance counterparts in Spain, France, and Italy, these designs took on a highly distinctive Andean style which carried well into the eighteenth century.

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