A crucial element of Moche royal regalia was the nose ornament, whose imagery varies from benign to predatory. One ornament here depicts a human head, perhaps a ruler’s portrait, flanked by birds that attack human victims. In another, two supernatural decapitators brandish knives over a row of severed human heads. The third is an elegant composition that combines serpents with long-necked water birds. The Moche were among the Andes’ most inventive metalsmiths, and they developed many complex techniques for joining and enriching the surfaces of metals, which they usually worked by hammering rather than casting. The gold-and-silver ornaments were made by first joining gold and silver sheets through heating and hammering. Then came the relief decoration, followed by the selective removal of metal along the joins. Finally, the ornament was trimmed and polished.

A gold ornament features two broad, flat bands flaring upward in a V-shape. Between them sits a human head with inlaid white and blue eyes, topped by a row of dangling square pendants. On either side, a large bird with a hooked beak clutches a smaller crouching figure. Tiny red and blue stones detail their eyes. The base consists of two fanned, grooved sections that slant away from each other.

The Cleveland Museum of Art

Nose Ornament with Human Head and Condors Attacking Humans

Peru, North Coast, Moche culture , early Intermediate Period

Description