The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of October 7, 2026

A cast gold sculpture depicts a bird perched on a curved base. Facing right, the bird features large, spiraling eyes and a hooked beak. A wide crest of narrow gold strips fans out atop the head, tipped with open circles. Circular holes pattern the chest, and the legs end in ribbed feet. The golden surface has a pitted, matte texture, while the hollow base flares at the end with a braided rim.

Finial with Bird (Harpy Eagle with Royal Flycatcher Crest?)

400–1000

Isthmian Region , 5th century-11th century

(Colombia), Sinú (Zenú)
gold, cast
Overall: 11.4 x 7.2 x 6 cm (4 1/2 x 2 13/16 x 2 3/8 in.)
Severance and Greta Millikin Purchase Fund 2015.3
Location: 233 Mesoamerican and Intermediate Region

Did You Know?

A museum visitor corrected our identification of this bird!

Description

This gold finial fit over the end of a staff, an emblem of rank. The bird has the hooked beak of a raptor—perhaps the harpy eagle, the “king” of tropical forests. The enormous crest, however, may be inspired by the Royal Flycatcher, a smaller bird that fans its unique, brilliantly colored crest during mating.
  • 2015-
    The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
  • Seligman, Thomas K., and Kathleen Berrin. The Bay Area Collects: Art from Africa, Oceania, and the Americas. [San Francisco]: Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, 1982. fig. 111
    Cleveland Museum of Art. Museum Masters: 2016-17 Companion Guide. [Cleveland, Ohio]: Cleveland Museum of Art, 2016. Mentioned and Reproduced: P. 82-83
    Bergh, Susan. "Acquisitions 2015: Pre-Columbian and Native North American Art.” Cleveland Art: Cleveland Museum of Art Members Magazine 56, no. 2 (March/April 2016): 32-33. Reproduced: p. 3, 32; Mentioned: p. 32 archive.org
    Falchetti de Sáenz, Ana María. Lo humano y lo divino: metalurgia y cosmogonía en la América antigua. 2018. p. 81
  • {{cite web|title=Finial with Bird (Harpy Eagle with Royal Flycatcher Crest?)|url=false|author=|year=400–1000|access-date=07 October 2026|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/2015.3