The Cleveland Museum of Art
Collection Online as of March 29, 2024
Finial with Bird (Harpy Eagle with Royal Flycatcher Crest?)
400–1000
(Colombia), Sinú (Zenú)
Overall: 11.4 x 7.2 x 6 cm (4 1/2 x 2 13/16 x 2 3/8 in.)
Location: 233 Mesoamerican and Intermediate Region
Did You Know?
A museum visitor corrected our identification of this bird!Description
This gold finial fit over the end of a staff, an emblem of rank. The bird has the hooked beak of a raptor—perhaps the harpy eagle, the “king” of tropical forests. The enormous crest, however, may be inspired by the Royal Flycatcher, a smaller bird that fans its unique, brilliantly colored crest during mating.- 2015-The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
- Seligman, Thomas K., and Kathleen Berrin. The Bay Area Collects: Art from Africa, Oceania, and the Americas. [San Francisco]: Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, 1982. fig. 111Cleveland Museum of Art. Museum Masters: 2016-17 Companion Guide. [Cleveland, Ohio]: Cleveland Museum of Art, 2016. Mentioned and Reproduced: P. 82-83Falchetti de Sáenz, Ana María. Lo humano y lo divino: metalurgia y cosmogonía en la América antigua. 2018. p. 81
- {{cite web|title=Finial with Bird (Harpy Eagle with Royal Flycatcher Crest?)|url=false|author=|year=400–1000|access-date=29 March 2024|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}
Source URL:
https://www.clevelandart.org/art/2015.3