Art

Undoubtedly, the Mochica achieved a great artistic level, which is evident in the excellent quality of their architectural iconography (reliefs), mural paintings, ceramic, metal, wood, and textile objects, and other materials they worked with.

Ceramic

Mochica ceramics have two main colors: red and cream. They used molds to make their ceramical objects, both for domestic and ceremonial use.

The latter generally had a globular base and decorations that reflected the cosmic vision and ideology of the Mochica people. Analysis of the iconography decorating the pottery has revealed interesting information about the Moche lifestyle: funerary ceremonies, ritual ceremonies, landscapes, houses, wars, illnesses, etc. The pottery for ritual use evidences the artistic development achieved by the Mochica.

Metal work

The Mochica were excellent metalworkers. Studies on the jewelry of the Señor de Sipán (a Mochica governor found in Lambayeque, contemporary to the lords who might have ruled the Huaca de la Luna) demonstrates that they developed very sophisticated techniques to make metal objects, unknown to the Europeans until the XVIII and XIX centuries.

A sample of this are the gilded copper objects. To make them, the Mochica used alloys that contained a low percent of gold, but using the tumbaga technique (similar to electrolysis), they caused the gold to come up to the surface.