CC0 · no rights reserved
Animal-Headed Figure Pendant
From the collection of Cleveland Museum of Art. Free to download, adapt and use — no permission needed.
About this work
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 clapper. In both examples, two tufts in the form of crocodiles in profile flank the birds’ heads.
Cleveland Museum of Art’s own descriptionCredit lineAnimal-Headed Figure Pendant, c. 1000–1550. Costa Rica, Diquís region, 11th-16th century. Cast gold; overall: 8.7 x 9 x 3.1 cm (3 7/16 x 3 9/16 x 1 1/4 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, James Albert Ford Memorial Fund, 1948.18
