Nose Ornament 1–1000 Zenú This solid metal nose ornament was first cast by the lost wax technique, likely using gold or an alloy of gold with copper, and then hammered to its present shape and thickness. There are some archaeological ceramic figurines that show a person wearing a similar nose ornament by passing the central, semicircular loop through the septum, but it is uncertain whether this could be accomplished with a metal version, like the present example.[1] A possible alternative is that the central, semicircular loop would have fit over a person’s nose and the interior edges wou

Nose Ornament 1–1000 Zenú This solid metal nose ornament was first cast by the lost wax technique, likely using gold or an alloy of gold with copper, and then hammered to its present shape and thickness. There are some archaeological ceramic figurines that show a person wearing a similar nose ornament by passing the central, semicircular loop through the septum, but it is uncertain whether this could be accomplished with a metal version, like the present example.[1] A possible alternative is that the central, semicircular loop would have fit over a person’s nose and the interior edges would have pressed into the nostrils, securing the ornament to the face. This ornament is the work of Zenú people, who lived and live today in the Caribbean Lowlands of Colombia. It belongs to the group, defined by Ana María Falchetti (1995, 74, 77), known as "nose ornaments with flat, horizontal extensions and half-moon ends" or "narigueras con prolongaciones horizontales planes y remates semi-lunares."On the obverse, the central loop connects to two rectangular elements. Each element has the appearance of a braid. The artist created this design by plaiting wax threads during the construction of the wax model. Each rectangular element consists of four columns, and each pair of columns was produced by plaiting four threads. These rectangular elements are slightly raised from the plain elongated metal that extends from the loop toward the ends of the ornament. Presumably, during construction of the wax model, the artist made the plaited "filigree" design separately and then affixed it to the plain surface with light pressure and/or heat. In recent centuries, people in Mompox, in the Zenú region, have been practicing filigree, using wire rather than casting metal. Today, they work typically in silver, and people’s memories point to early Zenú and Spanish Colonial-period metalworking traditions as origins of their practice (Lobo 2014).Along their lower edges, the elongated

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