Plaque Item Number: Sf605 from the MOA: University of British Columbia
Description
Thick, gilded disc with an incised design of a profile of an animal head with ears, long muzzle, extended tongue, and two serrated horns or crests on the top of the head. The eye outline and pupil are oval-shaped. Five incised squares surround the ear area. The design fits inside a circular, incised border. There is a small hole above the head near the border.
History Of Use
Discs like this have not been published but Sr. Walter Alva of the Bruning Museum in Lambayeque says this type of ornament is associated with Vicus graves. The precise use is not known although the hole suggests they were suspended. Several Vicus effigy ceramics portray a disc hung around the neck of the figure.
Iconographic Meaning
The horns suggest this may be a deer. However, the extended tongue is a consistent feature of the moon animal.
Narrative
Vicus style ? Early Intermediate Period, 300 B.C.E. - 600 C.E.?
Specific Techniques
This disc has a relatively thick and continuous layer of yellow-coloured metal over the surface of one side, including the incisions. The incisions are trapezoidal in cross-section and made up of a series of short, straight lines. ESM analysis (Sf597) showed surface is half gold, half copper while the interior is mostly copper with some gold and a trace of silver. Of the gilding techniques known for the Vicus area, electrochemical replacement plating is most consistent with these features.
Item History
What
- Name
- Plaque
- Identification Number
- Sf605
- Type of Item
- plaque
- Material
- copper metal, gold metal and silver metal
- Manufacturing Technique
- hammered, cut, incised, gilded and punched
- Overall
- height 0.1 cm, diameter 5.6 cm
Where
- Holding Institution
- MOA: University of British Columbia
- Made in
- Peru
When
- Creation Date
- between 301 BCE and 600
- Collection Date
- between 1949 and 1966
- Ownership Date
- before May 4, 1981
- Acquisition Date
- on May 4, 1981
Other
- Item Classes
- metalwork
- Condition
- poor
- Accession Number
- 0711/0107