2nd-6th century AD. A matched pair of discoid-shaped wooden ear spools, each with a circumferential band of wooden beads and depicting a warrior figure using spondylus, turquoise, sodalite, shell and stone inlay; integral cylindrical stems to the reverse with inlaid bands of spondylus towards the tops; Lambayeque Valley, circa 200-500 AD. See Ji, M., How To Wear Body Ornaments from the Ancient Americas, in MetKids Blog, New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2018; cf. Newton, D. et al., The Pacific Islands, Africa, and the Americas, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 1987, for discussion; cf. Pillsbury, J. et al., Golden Kingdoms: Luxury Arts in the Ancient Americas, Los Angeles, J. Paul Getty Museum, 2017, for discussion. 53 grams total, 77mm each (3"). From the private collection of Mr. Michael J. Vaupel, Miami, USA; acquired from Mr. Gloria Lisset Reyes Garcia, Florida, USA; ex private American collection, circa 1960s; previously in the collection of Mr. Razeto; acquired in the 1950s-1960s; formerly acquired before 1950. Moche craftsmen worked tiny pieces of highly valued materials such as shell and stone into mosaics used in various genres of luxurious ornamentation. Turquoise, for example, may have been imported from as far afield as northern Chile, while the spondylus, associated with fertility, was imported from the warm waters off the coast of northern Peru and Ecuador. This pair was probably worn with the figures facing forwards. They may have been worn for ceremonial purposes or placed around the head of the deceased in a burial context. The Moche flourished between 200-850 AD and built thriving regional centres before the advent of the Inca civilisation, and archaeologists have referred to this age as the 'Mastercraftsman Period'. [2]