Peru’s pre-Inca treasures are unmasked at British Museum

Funerary mask, Copper and shell, Moche, AD 100–800 Museo de Arte de Lima
Handout via the British Museum
Robert Dex @RobDexES7 September 2021

A 2,500-year-old gold headdress is among dozens of ancient South American treasures coming to the UK for the first time for a landmark new British Museum show.

The “eye-opening” new exhibition is the latest blockbuster launched by London’s museums as they begin their fightback from the pandemic which meant visitor figures tumbled and buildings had to close their doors.

The Bloomsbury institution saw its visitor figures collapse by 80 per cent last year when around 1.275 million people came through its doors as opposed to the 6.2 million who visited in 2019.

Miniature gold llama figurine, Peru, Incan, about 1500
Handout via British Museum

More than 40 objects, some dating from 3,000 years ago, will come to London from nine museums in Peru and will go on show alongside 80 treasures from the museum’s collection. Among the artefacts going on display in Peru: A Journey In Time are a miniature gold figurine of a llama and the gold headdress, which dates to around 800BC.

The oldest — and one of the strangest — objects on show will be a ceremonial vessel made by the ancient indigenous Cupisnique people, who lived on what is now Peru’s northern coast, in about 1200BC.

It shows a contortionist bending their body into shape and is believed it could represent someone born with a disease that caused their joints to be unusually flexible — an ability revered in the ancient culture that flourished between 1500 to 500BC.

Headdress with mythical feline heads. Gold alloy, 800–550 BC. Museo Kuntur Wasi
Headdress with mythical feline heads. Gold alloy, 800–550 BC. Museo Kuntur Wasi
Handout via British museum

The show, which coincides with the 200th anniversary of the country gaining its independence, goes up to the fall of the Incas in 1532 when the Spanish arrived. Co-curator Cecilia Pardo said: “While the Incas are one of the most well-known civilisations from Peru, they were actually relatively recent in terms of the long history of this region.

We’ll be taking visitors back many thousands of years earlier, to show how the extraordinary past cultures of Peru were shaped by unique ways of living within the landscapes of the Andes, one of the cradles of world civilisation.

“They’ll discover the story of how these ancient Peruvian societies had unique approaches to economy, gender, agriculture, power and beliefs and how they thrived against the odds right up until the Inca conquest by the Spanish.”

The show, supported by PROMPERU , runs from November 11 to February 20 next year.

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