Decorative objects · Animals · Catalog HV6GDWCF

Nose Ornament with Serpents and Long-necked Birds

Unknown creator · c. 100–300 CE

A crucial element of Moche royal regalia was the nose ornament, whose imagery varies from benign to predatory. One ornament here depicts a human head, perhaps a ruler’s portrait, flanked by birds that attack human victims. In another, two supernatural decapitators brandish knives over a row of severed human heads. The third is an elegant composition that combines serpents with long-necked water birds. The Moche were among the Andes’ most inventive metalsmiths, and they develo