Special Exhibitions
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Past Exhibitions
Female figure, early 16th century; Inka, from Cerro El Plomo Chile. Silver, camelid hair, feathers, spondylus shell. Museo Nacional de Historia Natural, Santiago.
Rain of the Moon: Silver in Ancient Peru
November 3, 2000–April 29, 2001
The Michael C. Rockefeller Wing, 1st floor
Learn more about this exhibition.
View images from this exhibition.
Ancient Peruvian silver—one of the three metals extensively worked in Peru from about 500 B.C. onward, and rarer at the time than gold—is the focus of this unprecedented exhibition, which brings together for the first time well-preserved silver objects from public and private collections in the United States. Spanning a period of about 1500 years, from the early part of the first millennium until the 16th century, the works include large decorated disks, miniature models of a garden scene and funeral procession, personal ornaments, and an important group of silver vessels in the shape of human and animal figures from the Metropolitan's own collection.

The exhibition is made possible by The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.
The exhibition catalogue is made possible in part by the Roswell L. Gilpatric Fund for Publications.
The exhibition was initiated with the collaboration of the Americas Society, New York.