2nd-6th century AD. A repoussé breast plate ornament representing a bare-footed deity wearing a headdress, holding a staff in each hand with finial formed as birds with fish suspended from beaks; geometric and abstract motifs depicting a 'skirt'; shell inlay in earrings, to neck ornamentation and to staffs; three domed discs suspended from headdress; pierced lugs placed at various points for attachment; formed from a thick plate or sheet of gold alloy; found between Chiclayo and Trujillo, probably Cayalti or Chepen, Lambayeque, circa 200-500 AD. See Newton, D. et al., The Pacific Islands, Africa, and the Americas, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 1987; cf. Pillsbury, J. et al., Golden Kingdoms: Luxury Arts in the Ancient Americas, Los Angeles, J. Paul Getty Museum, 2017, no.21; see Jones, J., and Heidi, K., Gold of the Americas, The Bulletin of the Metropolitan Museum of Art vol, 59, no.4, Spring 2002. 65 grams, 23cm (9"). 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. This pectoral once belonged to a high priest or ruler from the Sicán or Lambayeque culture in northern Peru. It was intended to protect the deceased in the afterlife and was deposited in a grave, either on top of or around the upper part of, the body of the deceased's mummy bundle as a substitute for the face of the deceased. Additional masks, possibly worn by attendants in the afterlife, were also placed within the tomb. Artificial arms and hands would have been placed around the body, positioned to appear as though they held decorated gold beakers. The cups themselves would have been stacked in the corners of the burial chambers. The ovoid eyes are characteristically Lambayeque in style and may represent a figure known as the Sicán deity. Some experts believe that an individual interred with such a breastplate would have been believed to appropriate the deity's attributes and powers, and transformed into venerated ancestors upon death. The hanging ornaments are typical for the Sicán breastplate. Such objects have been discovered in the tombs of both male and female notables. Although used in the context of burials, the dangles conveyed a sense of animated movement, as the mummy was processed to its final resting place within a monumental platform mound. Pre-Columbian gold artefacts were generally of gilded gold. The surface is gold gilded with an alloy composed of gold and a small percentage of silver and copper. A huge variety of gold ornamental objects were produced for the Sicán elite, which they used in decorative, funerary and ceremonial contexts. Pieces of armour such as the breastplate or plastron were possibly used for ritual purposes, but more likely served as deposits in the graves of the noble dead. The ornate pectoral for a high-ranking noble or priest was sewn onto clothing, used to convey the wealth and power of their owners and separating them from artisans, farmers and herders, whose labour underpinned their rule. Only kings and religious figures of high status wore such adornments. Pre-Columbian artisans excelled in metalwork. The Moche was a powerful ancient state on the north coast of present-day Peru.