Figural Pendant
Unknown Artist
400–700
Medium
cast gold
Dimensions
7.8 × 5.3 × 2.3 cm
Classification
Metalwork
Department
Art of the Americas
Museum
Cleveland Museum of Art
Credit
Gift of Mrs. Benjamin P. Bole
Accession Number
1946.80
About this artwork
This emphatically male figure combines a human body with a composite animal head. The antlers are the stag's; the snout, perhaps a snarling feline's; and the hair is formed of braided serpents whose heads hiss from the figure's shoulders. The extended tongue may convey aggression or perhaps death because dying animals are depicted with lolling tongues. Either condition is in keeping with the creature's ferocity.