Golden Kingdoms: Luxury and Legacy in the Ancient Americas
Exploration of the circulation and value of pre-Columbian artworks made of gold, silver, jade, feathers, and other precious materials
Project Details
- Category
- Years 2014 – 2018
- Status
- Organizer
Serpent Labret with Articulated Tongue (detail), 1300–1521, Aztec culture, gold. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, purchase, 2015 Benefit Fund and Lila Acheson Wallace Gift, 2016 (2016.64). Image © The Metropolitan Museum of Art
About
Goal
While previous studies of pre-Columbian art surveyed “treasures” from individual cultures, Golden Kingdoms sought to understand Indigenous views of value and luxury within their broader historical, cultural, social, religious, and political conditions. This research brought together newly discovered archeological finds and new insight on the art of the ancient Americas.
About
This research project analyzed the development of luxury arts from the royal courts of the pre-Columbian Americas from 1000 BCE to the arrival of Europeans in the early 16th century. Golden Kingdoms followed the emergence of goldworking in the Andes and its expansion northward into Mexico, revealing the distinctive ways ancient Americans used not only gold and silver but also jade, shell, and feathers—materials they considered more valuable.
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