Cleveland Museum of Art
Ear Ornament
- Date
- c. 500–200 BCE
- Medium
- hammered and cut gold
- Culture
- Peru, North Highlands, Chavín de Huantar(?), Chavín style
- Department
- Art of the Americas
- Institution
- Cleveland Museum of Art
- Object ID
- 134845
From the Cleveland Museum of Art record
There seems to be a link between Chavín religion and appearance of the Andes’ first large precious-metal objects, made using revolutionary new metallurgical processes. Chavín may have developed these technical innovations to express the inexpressible, the "wholly other" nature of its religion. In many areas, elite men and women wore the ornaments as emblems of their ties to this religion, and eventually were buried with them. These 16 objects, along with three others not in the museum’s collection, are said to have come as a group from Chavín itself.
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Provenance & credit
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- Credit line
- Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Paul Tishman
- Provenance
- Juan Dalmau, Peru | Joseph Brummer | Dr. Vladimir G. Simkhovitch | Juan Dalmau, Peru; Joseph Brummer; Dr. Vladimir G. Simkhovitch
Part of a LinkedCulture topic
Pre-Columbian Body AdornmentThese objects are personal ornaments and jewelry worn by ancient Mesoamerican and Andean cultures, including ear ornaments, nose ornaments, plaques, and costume decorations made from precious metals, stone, shell, and ce
359 objects from 4 institutions
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