Pair of Earflares with Multifigure Scenes 12th-15th century Chimú Ear ornaments were an important component of courtly regalia in the ancient Andes from at least the first millennium B.C. to the arrival of the Spaniards in the sixteenth century. Some of the most spectacular examples in the late pre-Hispanic period were made at Chan Chan, capital of the Chimú Empire, in the Moche Valley on Perus North Coast. This pair of earspools features nearly the same composition on each ornament. The principal figure, likely a depiction of political leader known as a cacique or lord in sixteenth-century Spanish texts, wears a large crescent headdress and stands on a litter (a type of conveyance used to carry an individual, or individuals), born aloft by two smaller-scale figures with similar, but smaller headdresses. The lord himself wears large round ear ornaments that have a central boss and decorated borders. His tunic—the primary male garment in the late prehispanic Andes, worn over a loinclot