Cutout Disk

This gilded copper disk features a central figure with outstretched arms, shown in silhouette, and encircled by three concentric rings of circular cut-outs. The figure holds a head in his left hand and a crescent-bladed knife (tumi) in his right hand. A crescent headdress and a loincloth complete the figure’s adornments. Four bands, each bisected by a line, emanate outward from the figure. Such rays may represent the eight legs of a spider (Alva, 2008; Cordy-Collins, 1992). The metal removed to create the circular holes was likely repurposed to create the dangles, each held in place by wires fixed to the back of the disk and suspended near each cut-out hole. Other circular dangles are suspended along the circumference of the disk, as well as from the figure’s tunic and rays. In its original state the shimmering of the gilded disks must have been striking.

In Moche iconography, figures holding a trophy head and a tumi knife have been identified as a god known as the Decapitator (Cordy-Collins, 1992; for another example in the Met’s collection, see accession number 1982.392.8). In many representations, the figure is also shown with barred teeth and an elaborate headdress (see also 1979.206.1247). The significance of the association of this powerful figure with spiders in unknown, but perhaps the manner in which spiders trap their prey in a web before draining them of their vital fluids had relevance to the Moche practice of battle and prisoner sacrifice (Alva, 2008; Cordy-Collins, 1992).

The use of disks such as the present example is unclear. They may have served as shield frontals, attached to a cane backing, now lost. The delicate nature of this metal ornament would have provided little physical protection in battle, but the imagery itself may have been thought to have certain apotropaic qualities. Alternatively, these disks may have been attached to textile banners or some other type of object.

The Moche (also known as the Mochicas) flourished on Peru’s North Coast from 200-850 A.D., centuries before the rise of the Incas. Over the course of some six 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 the Moche never formed a single centralized political entity, they shared unifying cultural traits such as religious practices (Donnan, 2010).

This object was said to have been found at the burial site of Loma Negra, which was one of the most northern outposts of Moche culture. Loma Negra works in metal share similar iconography with ceramics and metalwork found at Moche sites father to the south, such as Ucupe (Bourget, 2014). The precise relationship between Loma Negra and the Moche “heartland” remains a subject of debate, however (Kaulicke, 2006).

References and Further Reading

Alva Meneses, Néstor Ignacio. “Spiders and Spider Decapitations in Moche Iconography: Identification from the Contexts of Sipán, Antecedents and Symbolism.” In The Art and Archeology of the Moche: An Ancient Andean Society of the Peruvian North Coast, edited by Steve Bourget and Kimberly L. Jones, pp. 247-261. Austin: University of Texas Press, 2008.

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

Cordy-Collins, Alana. “Archaism or Tradition? The Decapitation Theme in Cupisnique and Early Moche Iconography.” Latin American Antiquity 3 (1992) pp. 207-219.

Disselhoff, Hans-Dietrich. “Metallschmuck aus der Loma Negra, Vicus (Nord-Peru).” Antike Welt vol. 3 (1972), pp. 43–53.

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.

Jones, Julie. “Mochica Works of Art in Metal: A Review.” In Pre-Columbian Metallurgy of South America, edited by Elizabeth P. Benson, pp. 53-104. Washington, DC: Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection, 1979.

Jones, Julie, and Heidi King. “Gold of the Americas.” The Bulletin of the Metropolitan Museum of Art vol. 59, no. 4 (Spring 2002).

Kaulicke, Peter. “The Vicús-Mochica Relationship.” In Andean Archaeology III, edited by William H. Isbell and Helene H. Silverman, pp. 85-111. Boston, MA: Springer, 2006.

Lechtman, Heather, Antonieta Erling, and Edward J. Barry Jr. “New Perspectives on Moche Metallurgy: Techniques of Gilding Copper at Loma Negra, Northern Peru.” American Antiquity vol. 47 (1982), pp. 3-30.

Schorsch, Deborah, Ellen G. Howe, and Mark T. Wypyski, “Silvered and Gilded Copper Metalwork from Loma Negra: Manufacture and Aesthetics.” Boletín Museo del Oro vol. 4 (1996), pp. 145-163.

Schorsch, Deborah. "Silver-and-Gold Moche Artifacts from Loma Negra, Peru." Metropolitan Museum Journal vol. 33 (1998), pp. 109-136.