The Vicús culture developed in Alto Piura, and many of their objects came into collections via the secondary market that was fed by covert excavations carried out by huaqueros (grave robbers). Because of the pervasiveness of such looting, confusion abounds regarding the origin of many of these objects, and it is not possible to determine whether numerous art works came from Frías, Moche or Vicús sites.

The arrival of the Moche in Alto Piura had a significant effect on metallurgy there. The Moche expanded their territory during their reign, to cope with the expanding agricultural needs of their people. The culture’s northern-most region, known as Mochica Norte, included the valleys of Jequetepeque, Zaña, Lambayeque and Piura.¹ The metalwork found in the area of the Piura Valley is some of the Moche’s finest. Items known to have been looted from the tombs at Loma Negra there—most likely from warriors’ and priests’ graves—have been made with the same highly sophisticated techniques and finish found in Vicús metal objects.² Copper, gilded with gold and silver, was the preferred metal used by the Vicús. In Loma Negra, objects have been found that were made using the same electroplating techniques that the Vicús employed. Gilded copper owl-headed forms have been unearthed in the Moche tombs of the Lord of Sipán, which are extraordinarily similar to this Vicús bell.³ Images of a group of similar rattles have been published by the Museo Oro del Perú as Moche.⁴ The bird on this bell has been identified as a burrowing owl (Athene cunicularia).

Along with stapling, steaming and soldering, folding techniques were a favoured means of uniting metal and creating three-dimensional objects, and can be seen in this copper bell’s construction. Some bells were created in anthropomorphic forms, like the double-faced owl seen on either side of this instrument. One piece of copper has been bent double, leaving a small gap between the owl faces on either side. When creating the design on a flat sheet of metal, the Vicús used hammers made from hard materials such as magnetite or basalt, and a stone (also usually basalt) anvil.⁵

Simeran Maxwell

1. Garth Bawden, The Moche, Cambridge, Mass.: Blackwell Publishers 1996, p. 209.

2. Interestingly, northern graves have produced greater quantities of metal objects than the southern (Mochica Sur) counterparts, which have more ceramics. See Gabriela Schwörbel Hoessel, ‘The forgers of metal’, in Victoria Mujica (ed.), Oro del Peru Museum, Lima: Fundación Miguel Mujica Gallo 2009, p. 100.

3. Walter Alva and Christopher B. Donnan, Royal Tombs of Sipán, Los Angeles: Fowler Museum of Cultural History, UCLA 1993, fig. 44, p. 47.

4. Mujica (ed.), pp. 106–07.

5. Schwörbel Hoessel, p. 101.

The Vicús culture developed in Alto Piura, and many of their objects came into collections via the secondary market that was fed by covert excavations carried out by huaqueros (grave robbers). Because of the pervasiveness of such looting, confusion abounds regarding the origin of many of these objects, and it is not possible to determine whether numerous art works came from Frías, Moche or Vicús sites.

The arrival of the Moche in Alto Piura had a significant effect on metallurgy there. The Moche expanded their territory during their reign, to cope with the expanding agricultural needs of their people. The culture’s northern-most region, known as Mochica Norte, included the valleys of Jequetepeque, Zaña, Lambayeque and Piura.¹ The metalwork found in the area of the Piura Valley is some of the Moche’s finest. Items known to have been looted from the tombs at Loma Negra there—most likely from warriors’ and priests’ graves—have been made with the same highly sophisticated techniques and finish found in Vicús metal objects.² Copper, gilded with gold and silver, was the preferred metal used by the Vicús. In Loma Negra, objects have been found that were made using the same electroplating techniques that the Vicús employed. Gilded copper owl-headed forms have been unearthed in the Moche tombs of the Lord of Sipán, which are extraordinarily similar to this Vicús bell.³ Images of a group of similar rattles have been published by the Museo Oro del Perú as Moche.⁴ The bird on this bell has been identified as a burrowing owl (Athene cunicularia).

Along with stapling, steaming and soldering, folding techniques were a favoured means of uniting metal and creating three-dimensional objects, and can be seen in this copper bell’s construction. Some bells were created in anthropomorphic forms, like the double-faced owl seen on either side of this instrument. One piece of copper has been bent double, leaving a small gap between the owl faces on either side. When creating the design on a flat sheet of metal, the Vicús used hammers made from hard materials such as magnetite or basalt, and a stone (also usually basalt) anvil.⁵

Simeran Maxwell

1. Garth Bawden, The Moche, Cambridge, Mass.: Blackwell Publishers 1996, p. 209.

2. Interestingly, northern graves have produced greater quantities of metal objects than the southern (Mochica Sur) counterparts, which have more ceramics. See Gabriela Schwörbel Hoessel, ‘The forgers of metal’, in Victoria Mujica (ed.), Oro del Peru Museum, Lima: Fundación Miguel Mujica Gallo 2009, p. 100.

3. Walter Alva and Christopher B. Donnan, Royal Tombs of Sipán, Los Angeles: Fowler Museum of Cultural History, UCLA 1993, fig. 44, p. 47.

4. Mujica (ed.), pp. 106–07.

5. Schwörbel Hoessel, p. 101.