The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of December 13, 2025

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=13 December 2025|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

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