Object Notes

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.

Among the relatively few objects in the limited category of things that are at once magical, aesthetic, and technological is the mirror. In addition to its sharing of all these qualities in the Chinese and Japanese traditions, the mirror had a similar multivalency in the pre-Columbian New World.

Among the relatively few objects in the limited category of things that are at once magical, aesthetic, and technological is the mirror. In addition to its sharing of all these qualities in the Chinese and Japanese traditions, the mirror had a similar multivalency in the pre-Columbian New World.

The spherical body of this vessel shows a contrast of smooth and textured surfaces, and a fine polish accentuates the steely gray-brown color.

The earliest central Andean art style with wide-spread distribution and influence is called Chavín, after the ceremonial center at the site of Chavín de Huántar in the northern highlands. The relief carving and monumental stone sculpture of its imposing temples express a fully developed religious iconography that features felines, birds of prey, and serpents.