Ornament (c. 300 BCE–100 CE): Art, History and Details

Ornament (c. 300 BCE–100 CE) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection.

The work and its context

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

With its grinning mouth and long, protruding tongue, the face embossed on this fragmentary ornament resembles linear images painted on mummy masks and woven on doublecloth tunics and mantles. Both painted mummy masks and doublecloth garments are most often found in the Ica Valley, a short distance south of the Paracas Peninsula. The ornament's original function is uncertain.

Object facts

• Title: Ornament
• Date: c. 300 BCE–100 CE
• Culture: Peru, South Coast, Ica Valley?, Paracas, c. 300 BC-AD 100
• Type: Jewelry
• Technique: hammered and embossed gold-copper alloy
• Dimensions: Overall: 8.8 x 4.8 cm (3 7/16 x 1 7/8 in.)
• Collection: AA - Andes
• Department: Art of the Americas
• Accession number: 1940.513

A detail from the museum

Tumbaga is an alloy made by blending gold with copper, which may give the gold a rosy hue.

Collection credit

The Norweb Collection

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.