1976.W.1793 Mace Head (Peru, Salinar)

Mace heads were a common form from at least the Early Intermediate Period (200 BCE-600 CE). The first examples appear in stone, associated with Chavín and Salinar cultures. The succeeding Moche and Nasca developed copper mace heads, which they depict in painted scenes of hand-to-hand combat on ceramic vessels. The pointed star-shaped maces would remain popular throughout Andean cultural history.

Kimberly L. Jones, PhD, Inca: Conquests of the Andes / Los Incas y las conquistas de los Andes, Label text [1976.W.1793; 1976.W.1771; 1976.W.1772; 1976.W.1773; 1976.W.1774], 2015.

Salinar: AAT: 300017299

Peru (nation): TGN: 1000056

stone: AAT: 300011176

carving: AAT: 300053149

incising: AAT: 300053847

relief (sculpture techniques): AAT: 300053622

polishing (finishing): AAT: 300053867

Early Intermediate period (Pre-Columbian Andean styles and periods): AAT: 300017280

mace heads (weapons): AAT: 300375720

maces (weapons): AAT: 300037214

club (weapon): AAT: 30037206

social status: AAT: 300065206

wood: AAT: 300011914

staffs (staff weapon components): AAT: 300204653

flanges (general components): AAT: 300233998

symmetry: AAT: 300056249

combat: AAT: 300379752

conical (shape): AAT: 300378897

bosses (components): AAT: 300047259

spikes: AAT: 300036427

conical spikes / bosses (components / objects parts): DMA

Until 1976: Nora and John Wise, New York [1]

From 1976: Dallas Museum of Fine Arts, The Nora and John Wise Collection, gift of Mr. and Mrs. Jake L. Hamon, the Eugene McDermott Family, Mr. and Mrs. Algur H. Meadows and the Meadows Foundation, Incorporated, and Mr. and Mrs. John D. Murchison [1], [2]

[1] The main source for this provenance is existing information in TMS. Exceptions and other supporting documents are noted.

[2] The name of the Dallas Museum of Fine Arts, founded in 1933, was changed to the Dallas Museum of Art in 1983.

Apply to objects where number equals 1976.W.1793