LOT 2117

Pre-Columbian Moche Sican Lambayeque Pectoral

TRANSITION PERIOD, 2ND-12TH CENTURY A.D.

15 1/2 in. (267 grams, 39.5 cm).

Depicting the face of a warrior Nylamp; at the top animal figures flank a discoid-shaped head with headdress and discoid dangles; a human head below with large headdress decorated in geometric motifs, a series of dangles below. [No Reserve]

From a Spanish collection, acquired before the 1950s.
Private European collection, acquired 1950s-1960s; thence by decent.
Ex diplomat M.I. Polak collection; acquired in the 1960s-1990s.
From a private Belgian collection, formed in the 1990s.

See Newton, D. et al., The Pacific Islands, Africa, and the Americas, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 1987; see Pillsbury, J. et al., Golden Kingdoms: Luxury Arts in the Ancient Americas, Los Angeles, J. Paul Getty Museum, 2017.

Archaeological investigations have demonstrated that Moche-Sicán cities were governed by warrior-priests, while depictions of rulers on pottery have revealed that these rulers wore pectorals like the example here. The ornate pectoral for a high-ranking noble or priest was sewn onto clothing, used to convey the wealth and power of their owners and separating them from artisans, farmers and herders, whose labour underpinned their rule. Only kings and religious figures of high status wore such adornments. Pre-Columbian artisans excelled in metalwork. The Moche was a powerful ancient state on the north coast of present-day Peru.