Bird Pendant
Unknown Artist
900–1550
Medium
cast gold
Dimensions
8.1 × 6.3 × 3.6 cm
Classification
Metalwork
Department
Art of the Americas
Museum
Cleveland Museum of Art
Credit
In memory of Mr. and Mrs. Henry Humphreys, gift of their daughter Helen
Accession Number
1965.466
About this artwork
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 ...