Ear flare frontal

One of a pair of ear flare frontals with MMA 66.196.39, the cylindrical shaft that would have been attached to the frontal and inserted in the earlobe is now missing. These frontals, cut from hammered gold sheet and worked from behind to create the figure of a warrior, were embellished with hollow gold spheres soldered to the edges of the ornament (some now missing). The figure wears a helmet with a crescent-shaped ornament projecting upward, a tunic, and a trapezoidal back flap—a type of body armor—with two appendages. In one hand, the warrior carries a circular shield (which may have once held a turquoise inlay), a mace, as well as spears with animal heads; in the other he holds a goblet.

Goblets feature prominently in imagery known as the “Warrior Narrative,” a subject seen across different media in Moche art (Donnan and McClelland 1999:130-136). The principal figure in the scene, known as figure “A,” holds up a goblet. A series of attendants, figures B, C, and D, appear to be bringing him the blood of captured prisoners to drink. The imagery is linked to concepts of war, prisoner capture, and ritual sacrifice. Although the significance of this iconography is not fully understood, the frequency of its depiction underscores its importance in Moche culture (although see also Scher 2020).

The Moche (also known as the Mochicas) flourished on Peru’s North Coast from 200-850 CE, centuries before the rise of the Inca. Over the course of some seven centuries, the Moche built thriving regional centers from the Nepeña River Valley in the south to perhaps as far north as the Piura River, near the modern border with Ecuador, developing coastal deserts into rich farmlands and drawing upon the abundant maritime resources of the Pacific Ocean’s Humboldt Current. Although it is not certain that the Moche formed a single centralized state, they shared unifying cultural traits such as religious practices (Donnan, 2010).

References and Further Reading

Bourget, Steve. Les rois mochica: Divinité et pouvoir dans le Pérou ancient. Paris: Somogy éditions d'art; Geneva: MEG, Musée d'ethnographie de Genève, 2014.

Castillo, Luis Jaime. “Masters of the Universe: Moche Artists and Their Patrons.” In Golden Kingdoms: Luxury Arts in the Ancient Americas, edited by Joanne Pillsbury, Timothy Potts, and Kim N. Richter, pp. 24-31. Los Angeles: J. Paul Getty Museum, 2017.

Donnan, Christopher B. “Moche State Religion.” In New Perspectives on Moche Political Organization, edited by Jeffrey Quilter and Luis Jaime Castillo, pp. 47-69. Washington D.C.: Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection, 2010.

Donnan, Christopher B., and Donna McClelland. Moche Fineline Painting: Its Evolution and its Artists. Los Angeles: Fowler Museum of Cultural History/ University of California, Los Angeles, 1999.

Scher, Sarahh, “Destituir a los sacerdotes: La iconografía moche, la falsa ubicuidad y la creación de un canon.” In El arte antes de la historia. Para una historia del arte andino antiguo, edited by Marco Curatola Petrocchi, Cécile Michaud, Joanne Pillsbury, and Lisa Trever, pp. 237-257. Lima: Fondo Editorial, Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú, Colección de Estudios Andinos, 2020.