The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of March 29, 2024

Figural Pendant

Figural Pendant

1–800 CE
Overall: 29.4 x 16.2 x 1 cm (11 9/16 x 6 3/8 x 3/8 in.)

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.
  • ?-1969
    (John Wise, New York, NY, sold to an American private collector)
    1969-1979
    American Private Collector
    1979-2015
    American Private Collector by inheritance, sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art
    2015-
    The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
  • Cleveland Museum of Art. Museum Masters: 2016-17 Companion Guide. [Cleveland, Ohio]: Cleveland Museum of Art, 2016. Mentioned and Reproduced: P. 82-83
  • {{cite web|title=Figural Pendant|url=false|author=|year=1–800 CE|access-date=29 March 2024|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/2015.1