View of the Pre-Columbian Gold and Andean Civilizations Gallery

The Museum's outstanding collection of Pre-Columbian South American art is focused upon the cultures of the Andes from Colombia to Bolivia. Two textiles will rotate in this gallery, providing an excellent opportunity for visitors to compare Andean imagery in a variety of media, from gold to ceramics to the fiber arts. The gallery will also include many exceptional examples of goldwork from the various cultures of what is today Colombia, among them a striking cast gold "cacique" figural pectoral, enigmatic "tunjo" cache figures made by the now-extinct Muisca people, and large-scale abstract body adornments of the Calima people. Ceramics from cultures in Ecuador, Peru, and Bolivia will also be displayed. These range from simple vessel forms created by the Nasca people, exquisitely painted with abstract motifs and schematized renderings of the human form, to hand-modeled and mold-made sculptural pottery in the form of fruits, animals, and historical figures made by the Moche and Chimú cultures of northern Peru. An array of musical instruments, including ocarinas, shell trumpets, rattles, and hand drums, will address the role performance played in these cultures to communicate social, political and religious customs.