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Details / Information for Figural Pendant

Figural Pendant

1–800 CE

Isthmian Region (Colombia), Tolima

Medium
gold, cast and hammered
Measurements
Overall: 29.4 x 16.2 x 1 cm (11 9/16 x 6 3/8 x 3/8 in.)
Credit Line
Severance and Greta Millikin Purchase Fund 2015.1
Public Domain
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Location
233 Mesoamerican and Intermediate Region
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Did You Know?

Pendants in the form of figures with X-shaped bodies are an iconic Tolima type.

Description

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.
A flat gold pendant in a geometric shape depicts a figure resembling an animal. The face of the figure has minimal carvings and its limbs are sharp and angular. There are two angled appendages jutting out from either side of its head and its tail is curved in a U-shape.

Figural Pendant

1–800 CE

Isthmian Region (Colombia), Tolima

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