Description:

Pre-Columbian, Peru, Nazca to Chimu culture, ca. 200 to 1476 CE. A superb collection of silver adornments and a textile feather headdress. The headband is comprised of a 97% silver panel, pierced for suspending discs, which would catch the light like sequins. This band may have been tied to the wearer's head with cords or sewn to a textile headdress. The nose ornament is made from a silver-copper alloy (57.1% silver), the sheet is cut into a crescent with a slit opening in the center for the ring to rest on / through the wearer's nose septum. The plume is comprised of yellow-orange feathers tied by their quills to vegetal fiber which are braided and then bundled together to form a fan like plume. While these could be the natural color from a parrot or other colorful bird, the plumage may have been dyed using the lost technique known as tapirage to create this yellow color! Size of feather plume: 9.25" L x 10" W (23.5 cm x 25.4 cm); base / stand: 18.5" L x 16.5" W (47 cm x 41.9 cm); 22" H (55.9 cm) on included custom stand; silver quality: 57.1% to 97.2%

The crescent nose ring form 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 nose ring and headdress probably belonged to a female, 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, acquired from 2000 to 2010

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#185926

  • Condition: Missing several dangling discs on headband. Overall excellent and choice. Mounted and displayed on a museum mannequin head as shown.

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June 14, 2024 8:00 AM MDT
Louisville, CO, US

Artemis Fine Arts

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