Ornamental Mask

This striking ornament made of gilded copper sheet in the shape of the front of a head has inlaid eyes of green and black stone and teeth made from shell. The ears are attached to the face with small tabs, as is a visor above the eyes. Abrasion on the nasal septum suggests that a miniature nose ring was once present. Trapezoidal ornaments with V-shaped incisions are attached to the ears. Remnants of seven thin wires protrude from the front of the visor. These may have once supported dangles, now lost. Four perforations, one below each ear and one on the top and bottom of the head, suggest that it was originally bound to a backing such as a banner.

Andean metallurgists used sophisticated techniques to create gilded and silvered surfaces. This remarkable ornament was made from a gold-copper alloy from which the copper was removed from the surface by mechanical and chemical means, giving the impression that the object was made of pure gold. Moche artisans also devised a technique to coat copper with a fine layer of gold, silver, or a combination of the two, using electrochemical replacement plating, a technology discovered centuries later in other parts of the world.

The Moche (also known as the Mochica) flourished on Peru’s North Coast from 200-900 CE, centuries before the rise of the Incas. Over the course of some seven centuries, the Moche built thriving regional centers from the Nepeña River Valley in the south to 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 precise nature of Moche political organization is unknown, these centers shared unifying cultural traits such as religious practices (Donnan, 2010).

This ornament was said to have been found at a site or sites known as Loma Negra, a northern outpost of Moche culture. Loma Negra works in metal share similar iconography with ceramics and metalwork found at Moche sites farther to the south, such as Ucupe (Bourget, 2014). The exact relationship between Loma Negra and the Moche “heartland” remains a subject of debate, however (Kaulicke, 2006).

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, Cecilia Pardo, and Julio Rucabado. Moche y sus vecinos: Reconstruyendo identidades. Lima: Museo de Arte de Lima, 2016.

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.

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

Schorsch, Deborah. “Silver-and-gold Moche Artifacts from Loma Negra, Peru.” Metropolitan Museum Journal 33 (1998), pp.109-136.