Jewellery & Goldsmiths' Work
Forehead Ornament
MetalworkJewellery
Details
- Author / creator
- Peru, South Coast, Nasca
- Object type
- Jewellery
- Date or period
- 100 BCE–700 CE
- Dimensions summary
- Overall: 27.4 × 9.3 cm
- Maker or workshop
- Peru, South Coast, Nasca
- Period / style
- Gothic
- Place of origin
- Peru
- Acquisition method
- Donation
- Credit line
- Gift of Sir Frederick Ashcombe, 1940
About this object
Nasca figures, like one on a bowl nearby, are shown wearing such forehead ornaments and mouth masks similar to these. The mouth mask hung from the nasal septum, the oval opening surrounding the mouth and the bristles positioned as feline whiskers, here transformed to serpents. Both were cut from sheet gold; details were worked freehand while the sheet rested on a soft surface.
Materials and technique
Hammered gold alloy
