Moche Gilded Copper Alloy Disc Ornament

Pre-Columbian era, Moche culture, Moche phase II to IV, c. 200-600AD, Northern Peru.

An amazing copper and gilt disc applique, probably representing the Sun, with a small suspension hole. The function of discs such the present example is unclear. They may have been intended for ritual use as symbolic weapon adornments. Alternatively, they may have been attached to textile banners or hangings. Copper ornaments would have signaled that the person was wealthy, but not a member of the royal family or nobility, who used gold and silver. The Moche civilization (also known as the Mochicas) flourished in northern Peru from about 200 to 700 AD, centuries before the rise of the Incas. The Moche are particularly noted for their elaborately painted ceramics, gold work, monumental constructions (huacas), and irrigation systems.

Good condition. Age-related wear and minimal abrasion. Reddish green surface patina and encrusted mineral deposits, with small areas of remaining gilding. Size approx. 6,5cm x 6,5cm x 0,1cm.

Provenance: Former collection of the archaeologist Ferdinand Anton, Germany, combined between 1950 and 1965. Ferdinand Anton was born in 1929 in Munich, Germany. He made a living by writing richly illustrated books about the art objects and religious rituals of Pre-Columbian cultures: the Aztecs, the Maya, and Andean peoples of South America. He was an explorer who flew to South America and Mexico, and hiked to remote shrines where few Westerners had set foot. He wrote more than forty books.