The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of March 29, 2024

Finial with Bird (Harpy Eagle with Royal Flycatcher Crest?)

Finial with Bird (Harpy Eagle with Royal Flycatcher Crest?)

400–1000
Overall: 11.4 x 7.2 x 6 cm (4 1/2 x 2 13/16 x 2 3/8 in.)

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. 111
    Cleveland Museum of Art. Museum Masters: 2016-17 Companion Guide. [Cleveland, Ohio]: Cleveland Museum of Art, 2016. Mentioned and Reproduced: P. 82-83
    Falchetti 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