Diquís Gold Avian Headed Pendant, circa AD 800 - 1500

Herbert Glimcher, Columbus
The Merrin Gallery, New York
Sotheby's, New York, May 27, 1998, lot 40, consigned by the above
Private Collection, Connecticut, acquired at the above auction

Sotheby's, New York, African, Oceanic and Pre-Columbian Art, May 13, 2011, p. 26, no. 126

This densely cast pendant is a classic form of the Diquis artisan’s creating a composite human, avian and saurian mythological figure, representing the shamanic transformational journey. Here the naked male bears strong bent legs and long taloned feet. Its beaded wings, tightly curled to the side, are trimmed by a row of faint beadwork. Its large eyes serve as rattles, with caiman heads emanating from the head and ankles. Seemingly in flight, the figure tightly grasps a spider monkey in its beak, as if caught in the act of catching its prey. A suspension loop is on the reverse.

For a highly similar figure, see Replica Shoes ’s, New York, November 17, 2006, lot 310.

"The power of gold in [...] Central and South America was inextricably linked to its ability to draw upon the power of ancient identity for expression of power in the world of the present." (John W. Hoopes and Oscar M. Fonseca Z., "Goldwork and Chibchan Identity: Endogenous Change and Diffuse Unity in the Isthmo-Colombian Area", in Jeffrey Quilter and John W. Hoopes, eds., Gold and Power in Ancient Costa Rica, Washington, D.C., 2003, p. 49).