Animal-Headed Figure Pendant
Unknown Artist
c. 1000–1550
Medium
cast gold
Dimensions
8.7 × 9 × 3.1 cm
Classification
Metalwork
Department
Art of the Americas
Museum
Cleveland Museum of Art
Credit
James Albert Ford Memorial Fund
Accession Number
1948.18
About this artwork
Among the pendants shown here are a crustacean (1943.290), an animal-headed figure (1948.18), and two pendants featuring birds (1951.442 and 1946.223). The latter were dubbed aguilas (eagles) by Christopher Columbus, who saw natives wearing them as necklace ornaments. Modern researchers are not as sure of the species shown, but some believe that they are birds of prey because talons and beaks are prominent and often clutch something, in one example here a small, disembodied head that holds a cla...