Artwork Page for Figural Pendant

Details / Information for Figural Pendant

Figural Pendant

400–700

Panama, Darién or Venado Beach region, Openwork style, 5th-8th Century

Medium
cast gold
Measurements
Overall: 7.8 x 5.3 x 2.3 cm (3 1/16 x 2 1/16 x 7/8 in.)
Weight: 113.82 g
Credit Line
Gift of Mrs. Benjamin P. Bole 1946.80
Public Domain
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Location
233 Mesoamerican and Intermediate Region
Print
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Did You Know?

This ornament was made with the lost-wax casting technique.

Description

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.
Gold pendant of a figure with an animal-like head and human body with squared limbs and a narrow torso. Their mouth is open, revealing fangs and a sticking out tongue, short antlers protrude from the top of their head, and intertwined serpents extend across the top of the head like hair, a serpent head resting on each shoulder. Gaps in the upper arms, torso, and thighs are each filled with a singular spiral.

Figural Pendant

400–700

Panama, Darién or Venado Beach region, Openwork style, 5th-8th Century

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