The association of gold and silver with the right and left sides of the human body has been demonstrated in burial contexts at Sipán (Donnan, 1993a, pp. 172-180; Alva & Donnan, 1993, pp. 221-223) and can be observed in Moche nose ornaments such as a hammer-welded example from Loma Negra (fig. 5). This crescent juxtaposes adjacent, mirror-image fields of gold and silver. Scholars of Moche culture have suggested that the metals symbolize basic human dualities, such as male and female or sun and moon (Alva & Donnan, 1993, p. 223), just as the visual relationship between these differently colored fields is one of opposition. This type of spatial relationship tends to communicate balance and stability, perhaps immutability, and the nose ornaments, although in many cases quite small, are imposing, suggesting the heft and rigidity of the hammered precious metal sheet.

Figure 4: Nose ornament, gold and silver, Moche, from Loma Negra. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, The Michael Rockefeller Collection, Bequest of Nelson A. Rockefeller, 1979 (1979.206.1228).

This relationship of opposition is continued in other spatial schemes in which there is no clear "right" and "left", and for which Moche specialists have suggested no cultural association. For example, a nose ornament in the Museo del Oro de Perú (Tushingham, et. al., 1979, pls. 75­76) thought to be from Loma Negra presents the repeated alternation of gold and silver fields, also on both sides of a central axis. The gold and silver fields in opposition can also function as foreground versus back­ground (figs 2,6) or top versus bottom (fig. 4). ^{| 3}

In contrast to the bold juxtaposition achieved with gold and silver sheet, the disk ornaments, with their gold and silver surface layers, are characterized by subtle transitions in color, texture and depth. An observer could not know per se that the metal was copper with gold and silver surface layers rather than solid gold and silver sheet but a perception of the "filminess", inherent in what have been found to be extremely thin layers of precious metal, is clearly communicated. A characterization of two different visual systems created using gilded and silvered copper sheets, some­times with the contribution of the reddish pink color of unadorned copper, forms the basis for the current publication. For the purpose of this investigation two classes of objects found at Loma Negra- disk ornaments and fox head headdress ornaments- are considered.

 

Figure 5: Nose ornament, gold and silver, Moche, from Loma Negra. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, The Michael Rockefeller Collec-tion, Bequest of Nelson A. RockefelIer, 1979 (1979.206.1332).