Description:

Pre-Columbian, Peru (North Coast), Moche Culture, ca. 100 to 700 CE. A pair of hammered sheet 14 karat gold nose pendants, each of crescent form. One is elongated, with a raised border and raised interior of mounds. The second pendant is impressive for its paper thin form, with a double border of stamped dots and five raised bosses with stamped central round portions that mirror the border. Perhaps these mounds and bosses were made to mirror the forms of mounded pyramids that formed the center of Moche population centers. Size of largest; 3" W x 1.65" H (7.6 cm x 4.2 cm); they are 2.2 and 1.1 grams respectively

The crescent forms of these objects mirror that of many known Moche gold items - headdresses and pectorals also had the crescent form, and they derive much of their impressiveness from the wide reflective surface they present to the viewer. Beyond the purely aesthetic, this shape may also connect to beliefs about the moon - we know that among the later Inca, Si, the moon goddess, was thought to be more powerful than the sun because she could be seen both at night and during the day. This object probably belonged to a male, because in ancient Peru, gold seems to have been reserved for elite men, while silver was reserved for elite women.

Provenance: private Hawaii, USA collection

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#125078

  • Condition: Both have slight bending to form and encrustation in lower profile areas. The thinner of the two has an old accession number handwritten in black ink on the back.

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July 11, 2017 8:00 AM MDT
Louisville, CO, US

Artemis Fine Arts

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