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Figural Pendant
From the collection of Cleveland Museum of Art. Free to download, adapt and use — no permission needed.
About this work
Colombia's Tolima region is justly famous for arrestingly abstracted figures like this one, among the largest of its kind. Such figures, worn as necklace pendants by chiefs and other elites, seem to be based on the human form. But they also incorporate animal features, often an upturned, bifurcated tail sometimes compared to that of a serpent and large, angled head appendages that may refer to animal ears or even insect antennae.
Cleveland Museum of Art’s own descriptionCredit lineFigural Pendant, 1–800 CE. Isthmian Region (Colombia), Tolima. Gold, cast and hammered; overall: 29.4 x 16.2 x 1 cm (11 9/16 x 6 3/8 x 3/8 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Severance and Greta Millikin Purchase Fund, 2015.1