Disk (850–1460): Art, History and Details

Disk (850–1460) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection.

The work and its context

The museum's open-access catalogue describes the work:

This disk belongs to a group of more than 20 similar disks pierced for attachment to a backing. The disks fall into four groups based on imagery. Here, each band features two alternating motifs: a human and a bird; a human and a zoomorphic creature; two geometric motifs, one filled with animals and the other with tiny birds; and two birds.

Object facts

• Title: Disk
• Date: 850–1460
• Culture: Central Andes, Lambayeque or Chimú people
• Type: Silver
• Technique: Silver
• Dimensions: Diameter: 34.4 cm (13 9/16 in.)
• Collection: AA - Andes
• Department: Art of the Americas
• Accession number: 2019.166

A detail from the museum

This disk could have been attached to a banner or a ceremonial shield.

Collection credit

Severance and Greta Millikin Trust

Further reading listed by the museum

• Bergh, Susan E. “Acquisitions 2019: Pre-Columbian and Native North American Art.” Cleveland Art: Cleveland Museum of Art Members Magazine 60, no. 2 (March/April 2020): 14-15.
• “New on View: An Ornamental Disk.” Cleveland Art: Cleveland Museum of Art Members Magazine 61, no. 2 (Spring 2021): Back cover.

View the collection record

See the museum's photographs and full catalogue entry. Catalogue text is reproduced from the Cleveland Museum of Art's open-access data, with HTML formatting removed. This object and its supplied image are designated CC0.