This band assembles two kind of gold bead: hollow spheres and composite cylinders. The spherical beads consist of hemispheres hammered from gold sheet. Holes for suspension were punched from the inside, their raised burrs carefully removed from the rim. In almost every case, the equatorial seam between the hemispheres of these beads was carefully burnished so as to hide the seam. As a result, the seams are invisible and the joining mechanism could not be determined. The cylinder beads consist in two parallel plates between which are arranged six hollow, cylindrical elements. The tubes in each bead are joined to the plates with solder made of a gold-silver alloy. The plates in each composite bead are outfitted with six holes, for purposes of stringing. A flat end piece at either extremity of the band, gathers the six strands of beads. The relief geometrical design in each plate was accomplished with tracing tools, struck into the metal.
Bibliography
Benson, Elizabeth P. 1963 Handbook of the Robert Woods Bliss Collection of Pre-Columbian Art. Dumbarton Oaks, Trustees for Harvard University, Washington, D.C., p. 67, cat. 372.
Bliss, Robert Woods 1957 Pre-Columbian Art: The Robert Woods Bliss Collection. Text and Critical Analyses by S. K. Lothrop, Joy Mahler and William F. Foshag. Phaidon, New York. p. 276, cat. 316, pl. CXXXI.
Bliss, Robert Woods 1959 Pre-Columbian Art: The Robert Woods Bliss Collection. 2nd ed. Text and Critical Analyses by S. K. Lothrop, Joy Mahler and William F. Foshag. Phaidon, London. p. 284, cat. 316, pl. CXXXI.
Boone, Elizabeth Hill (ED.) 1996 Andean Art at Dumbarton Oaks. Pre-Columbian Art at Dumbarton Oaks; No. 1. Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection, Washington, D.C. vol. 1, p. 240-1, pl. 59.
Lothrop, Samuel K. 1954 A Peruvian Goldsmith's Grave. Archaeology Spring 1954:31-36. p. 31-36.
Exhibition History
"Indigenous Art of the Americas", National Gallery of Art, Washington DC, November 1952 to July 1962.
Acquisition History
Purchased from Walram von Schoeler, New York (dealer), by Robert Woods Bliss, ca.1953.
Robert Woods Bliss Collection of Pre-Columbian Art, Washington, DC, 1953-1962.
Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection, Pre-Columbian Collection, Washington, DC.
