Around A.D. 1000, high-status tombs were constructed at Batán Grande, a site now called the Sicán Archaeological Precinct, where a single burial could include as many as five masks: one attached to the head and the others stacked at the feet. Cinnabar, a red mineral pigment, covers much of this example’s cheeks and forehead, emulating face paint. The textile-like design of this crown was achieved by delicately hammering from the reverse (repoussé). Metalsmiths in the central Andes preferred working with metal sheet rather than casting, and the sheet was often manipulated as if it were cloth—a medium of far greater antiquity and ritual importance.
Alrededor del año 1000 d. C. se construyeron tumbas para personajes de alto rango en Batán Grande, un sitio hoy llamado Complejo Arqueológico de Sicán. Allí eran sepultados, junto con diversos objetos de gran valor, los nobles de la sociedad Lambayeque, en monumentales plataformas de adobe. Una única tumba podía contener hasta cinco máscaras: una podría haber estado sujetada a la cabeza y las demás podrían haber sido colocadas a los pies del difunto. Aquí, el cinabrio (un pigmento mineral de color rojo), cubre una gran parte de las mejillas y de la frente, imitando la pintura facial. En Batán Grande, una sola tumba podía contener hasta cinco coronas. La parte central de esta corona tiene un diseño en forma de diamantes que podría hacer referencia al textil, delimitado en los registros superior e inferior por animales de perfil. El diseño fue obtenido o bien martillando con delicadeza o bien presionando desde el revés (repujado). Los extremos fueron unidos mediante una costura de hilo de metal. Los orfebres de los Andes centrales preferían martillar la hoja de metal más que fundirla, y muchas veces la hoja era manipulada como una tela, una técnica mucho más antigua y de mayor importancia ritual.
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Title:Funerary mask
Artist:Lambayeque (Sicán) artist(s)
Date:900–1100 CE
Geography:Peru, North Coast
Culture:Lambayeque (Sicán)
Medium:Gold, silver-copper alloy, cinnabar
Dimensions:H. 11 1/2 in. × W. 19 1/2 in. × D. 4 in. (29.2 × 49.5 × 10.2 cm)
Classification:Metalwork-Gold
Credit Line:Gift and Bequest of Alice K. Bache, 1974, 1977
Object Number:1974.271.35
[Maurice L. Bonnefoy, D'Arcy Galleries, New York, until 1965]; Alice K. Bache, New York, 1965–1977 (partial gift from 1974)
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