The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of March 25, 2024

Figure Pendant

Figure Pendant

900–1550
Overall: 6.2 x 6.1 x 2.5 cm (2 7/16 x 2 3/8 x 1 in.)

Description

Tairona-style pendants are among the most spectacular of all ancient American gold ornaments, in part because of the detail achieved with lost-wax casting. The traits of the figure pendant include a lower lip ornament and a headdress in which two bats hang upside down. Although called caciques (chieftains)-that is, ruler portraits-the meaning of such figures is not well understood. Bird imagery was important in the isthmian region in ancient times and remains so today. For instance, among the modern Bribri of Costa Rica, the principal creator deity (Sibo) takes the form of a buzzard or kite who wears a collar. Collars are standard features of ancient bird pendants, like the one shown here.
  • Cleveland Museum of Art, “Painting by 18th-century Italian Master Gaetano Gandolfi among Works Added to CMA Collection,” March 24, 1998, Cleveland Museum of Art Archives. archive.org
  • {{cite web|title=Figure Pendant|url=false|author=|year=900–1550|access-date=25 March 2024|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1998.3