id: 163755 accession number: 2005.177 share license status: CC0 url: https://clevelandart.org/art/2005.177 updated: 2022-06-16 09:00:47.237000 Nose Ornament with Serpents and Long-necked Birds, c. 100-300. Peru, North Coast, Moche culture (50-800), Early Intermediate Period (AD 0-700). Gold alloy and silver; overall: 7.6 x 13.9 cm (3 x 5 1/2 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Severance and Greta Millikin Purchase Fund 2005.177 title: Nose Ornament with Serpents and Long-necked Birds title in original language: series: series in original language: creation date: c. 100-300 creation date earliest: 100 creation date latest: 300 current location: 232 Andean creditline: Severance and Greta Millikin Purchase Fund copyright: --- culture: Peru, North Coast, Moche culture (50-800), Early Intermediate Period (AD 0-700) technique: gold alloy and silver department: Art of the Americas collection: AA - Andes type: Metalwork find spot: catalogue raisonne: --- CREATORS --- measurements: Overall: 7.6 x 13.9 cm (3 x 5 1/2 in.) state of the work: edition of the work: support materials: inscriptions: --- CURRENT EXHIBITIONS --- LEGACY EXHIBITIONS * Princeton, NJ: Princenton University Art Museum; February 22- June 8, 1997. "In Celebration: Works of Art from the Collection of Princeton Alumni and Friends of the Art Museum of Princeton University." no repr. --- PROVENANCE --- fun fact: digital description: wall description: 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. --- RELATED WORKS --- CITATIONS Cleveland Museum of Art. The CMA Companion: A Guide to the Cleveland Museum of Art. Cleveland: Cleveland Museum of Art, 2014. page number: Mentioned and reproduced: P. 335 url: --- IMAGES web: https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/2005.177/2005.177_web.jpg print: https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/2005.177/2005.177_print.jpg full: https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/2005.177/2005.177_full.tif