It was customary in Precolumbian America to bury the personal finery of an individual with him upon his death. In the earliest times such finery consisted of bone, shell, or stone ornaments. By Chimu times the personal jewelry of the nobility had become extremely lavish, and large amounts of flamboyant ornaments in gold were produced by full-time metalsmiths. The royal burials at Chan Chan, the Chimu capital, were so rich that after the conquest the Spaniards set up a commercial mining company to extract their treasures.
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Title:Pair of Earflare Frontals
Date:12th–15th century
Geography:Peru
Culture:Chimú
Medium:Gold
Dimensions:H. 3 1/2 × W. 3 1/2 × Diam. 1/4 in. (8.9 × 8.9 × 0.6 cm)
Classification:Metal-Ornaments
Credit Line:The Michael C. Rockefeller Memorial Collection, Bequest of Nelson A. Rockefeller, 1979
Object Number:1979.206.560
[Julius Carlebach Gallery, New York, until 1957]; Nelson A. Rockefeller, New York, 1957, on loan to The Museum of Primitive Art, New York, 1957–1978
Museum of Modern Art, New York. "Ancient Arts of the Andes," January 25, 1954–March 21, 1954.
Minneapolis Institute of Arts. "Ancient Arts of the Andes," April 20, 1954–June 15, 1954.
Legion of Honor, Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco. "Ancient Arts of the Andes," July 18, 1954–September 15, 1954.
Museum of Primitive Art. "The World of Primitive Art," July 12, 1966–September 11, 1966.
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. "Gold of Ancient America: Masterpieces from the Precolmbian World," December 1, 1968–January 12, 1969.
Art Institute of Chicago. "Gold of Ancient America: Masterpieces from the Precolmbian World," February 1, 1969–March 9, 1969.
Virginia Museum of Fine Arts. "Gold of Ancient America: Masterpieces from the Precolmbian World," March 24, 1969–April 20, 1969.
The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Art of Oceania, Africa and the Americas from The Museum of Primitive Art," May 10–August 17, 1969.
State Hermitage Museum. "The Gold of Ancient America," August 4, 1976–October 1, 1976.
State Pushkin Museum of Fine Arts. "The Gold of Ancient America," October 15, 1976–December 15, 1976.
National Historical Museum of Ukraine. "The Gold of Ancient America," January 5, 1977–March 1, 1977.
Bennett, Wendell C. Ancient Arts of the Andes: Museum of Modern Art, New York, in collaboration with the California Palace of the Legion of Honor, San Francisco [and] the Minneapolis Institute of Arts. New York: Museum of Modern Art, New York, 1954, p. 91, fig. 103.
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The Met's collection of art of the peoples of sub-Saharan Africa, the Pacific Islands, and North, Central, and South America comprises more than eleven thousand works of art of varied materials and types, representing diverse cultural traditions from as early as 3000 B.C.E. to the present.
