In an unusual cultural inversion, gold vessels such as this copied their form from blackware ceramics. Two opposing long spouts are linked by a curved bridge, here surmounted by a deity wearing a four-cornered cap. He is flanked by two other Sicán deities, with four more protruding from the body of the pot. Two stylised heads of canine deities jut from the sides. Decorative step motifs refer to mountains or terraced land, probably implying an agricultural fertility rite, with corn spirit (chicha) as the liquid used in the ceremony. As with most gold items, it would have been buried with a member of the elite.

Smiths hammered or rolled gold into thin sheets, which were welded together to form the body and base of the vessel. Other elements were made separately and then joined to the body. The persistent motif of the god Naymlap reinforces our understanding of their religious cult. The image is a marker of the Sicán dominance after the fall of the Moche: ‘it is a culture centred in Upper Piura, the vast region of Lambayeque and part of La Libertad (composed of the valleys of Motupe, La Leche, Lambayeque, Zaña, Jequetepeque and Chicama).’¹ The religious centre of Sicán at Poma (now Bosque de Pómac) seems to have attracted many people to the monumental huacas built there in the Middle Sicán period from 900 to 1100 AD.

Christine Dixon

1. Carlos G. Elera, ‘The Sicán or Lambayeque culture’, in Peru: Art from the Chavín to the Incas, Paris: Paris-musées, Milan: Skira 2009, p. 142.

In an unusual cultural inversion, gold vessels such as this copied their form from blackware ceramics. Two opposing long spouts are linked by a curved bridge, here surmounted by a deity wearing a four-cornered cap. He is flanked by two other Sicán deities, with four more protruding from the body of the pot. Two stylised heads of canine deities jut from the sides. Decorative step motifs refer to mountains or terraced land, probably implying an agricultural fertility rite, with corn spirit (chicha) as the liquid used in the ceremony. As with most gold items, it would have been buried with a member of the elite.

Smiths hammered or rolled gold into thin sheets, which were welded together to form the body and base of the vessel. Other elements were made separately and then joined to the body. The persistent motif of the god Naymlap reinforces our understanding of their religious cult. The image is a marker of the Sicán dominance after the fall of the Moche: ‘it is a culture centred in Upper Piura, the vast region of Lambayeque and part of La Libertad (composed of the valleys of Motupe, La Leche, Lambayeque, Zaña, Jequetepeque and Chicama).’¹ The religious centre of Sicán at Poma (now Bosque de Pómac) seems to have attracted many people to the monumental huacas built there in the Middle Sicán period from 900 to 1100 AD.

Christine Dixon

1. Carlos G. Elera, ‘The Sicán or Lambayeque culture’, in Peru: Art from the Chavín to the Incas, Paris: Paris-musées, Milan: Skira 2009, p. 142.