Face Mask Ornament

Art Historical Context

This exquisite Face Mask Ornament, crafted by an unknown Moche artist between the 6th and 7th centuries,ails from the ancient Moche culture of Peru's northern coast. Measuring just 5 1/8 x 4 1/8 inches, this petite yet intricate piece is made of silvered copper—a technique where a thin silver layer is applied over copper for a luminous, precious-metal sheen—and inlaid with shell for added texture and sparkle. Now housed in the Metropolitan Museum of Art's Department of Arts of Africa, Oceania, and the Americas, it entered the collection in 1980 as a gift from Jane Costello Goldberg, from the Collection of Arnold I. Goldberg. The Moche, flourishing from around 100 to 700 CE, were master metalworkers renowned for their hyper-realistic ceramics and elaborate adornments that bridged the earthly and supernatural worlds. This ornament likely served ceremonial or elite funerary purposes, evoking the stylized faces seen in Moche portrait vessels and tomb regalia. The silvering process highlights their sophisticated metallurgy, achieved through hammering, soldering, and gilding-like finishes, while shell inlays suggest symbolic references to marine life, vital to their coastal society. Admire how this tiny mask captures the Moche's blend of technical prowess and spiritual depth— a window into a civilization that revered warriors, deities, and ancestors through such dazzling artifacts.