Ornament with Agnathic Feline

400–200 BCE
Not on view
Returned to lender
This work of art was on loan to the museum and has since been returned to its lender.
Reportedly found with the adjacent spoon at Chavín de Huántar—a major ritual center in the central highlands of Peru—this disk, possibly a chest ornament, has a jawless zoomorphic face worked in repoussé in its center, encircled by a patterned border. The creature has feline attributes, such as fangs, but also two serpentine appendages.



Al parecer encontrado junto con la efigie bimetálica en forma de cuchara en Chavín de Huántar, uno de los centros ceremoniales más importantes de los Andes Centrales de Perú, este disco, posiblemente un ornamento para el pecho, presenta en el centro una cara zoomorfa sin mandíbula, tallada en relieve con bordes de guilloché. El ser tiene atributos felinos tales como colmillos, pero también dos extremidades con forma de serpiente.

Artwork Details

Object Information
  • Title: Ornament with Agnathic Feline
  • Date: 400–200 BCE
  • Geography: Peru
  • Culture: Chavín
  • Medium: Gold
  • Dimensions: D. 1 × Diam. 4 13/16 in. (2.5 × 12.3 cm)
  • Classification: Metalwork-Ornaments
  • Credit Line: Pre-Columbian Collection, Dumbarton Oaks, Washington, D.C. (PC.B.441)
  • Curatorial Department: The Michael C. Rockefeller Wing