A COSTA RICAN JADE BIRD PENDANT

LINEA VIEJA, ATLANTIC WATERSHED, CA. A.D. 300-700

Details

A COSTA RICAN JADE BIRD PENDANT
Linea Vieja, Atlantic Watershed, ca. A.D. 300-700
The profile bird pendant with exaggerated recurved beak and tiny sunken eyes, with grooved wing feathers, the tail transforming into a ferocious alligator's head; in translucent sea-green stone, pierced for suspension.
Height 1 3/4 in. (4.2 cm.)

Provenance

John Hauberg Collection, Seattle
Andre Emmerich

Literature

Elizabeth Kennedy Easby, Pre-Columbian Jade of Costa Rica , New York, 1968, pl.34.

Exhibited

Cambridge, Fogg Art Museum, 1970s.

Lot Essay

Cf. Jade in Ancient Costa Rica, pl. 63 for the general type.

The fantastic birds are distinct for their curved beaks which extend down more than half the body length. These avian pendants might represent funerary or sacrificial-rite attendants who transported the dead to the next world.
See illustration of lot on back cover.

More from Important Pre-Columbian Art A European Private Collection

View All