GENERAL DESCRIPTION
Among the societies of Central America, gold ornaments were important symbols of power and prestige that expressed authority and status in life and in death. The pre-Hispanic goldwork of Colombia is traditionally classified by archaeological zones, or regions, each with stylistic associations, varying in iconography and technology: Calima, Quimbaya, Tolima, and Nariño in the southwest; Zenú (Sinú) and Tairona in northwestern Colombia; and Muisca in the central highlands southeast of Bogotá. The Quimbaya style was first identified in 1890, when an elite burial of six individuals with 122 gold objects was found near the village of Filandia in the middle Cauca Valley. All these gold objects are now housed in the Museo de América in Madrid, known as the Treasure of the Quimbayas.
The image on this gold pendant is flattened and bilaterally symmetrical for maximum decorative effect. Although not visible from the front, a suspension loop is located on the reverse—craftsmen thus cleverly adapted the natural forms of totemic creatures to the functional demands of this jewelry. Decorated with delicate spirals that emanate from the top and bottom and ribbed bands over the entire body, this ornament represents an insect, possibly a snail. Pendants were likely worn on ceremonial occasions, and similar pendants were still being worn at the beginning of the 16th century conquest. For many peoples of the ancient Americas, animals and insects were likely mythic figures and considered intercessors. Such pendants may have offered protection to the wearer, and when represented in gold, such as this example, they would have been doubly powerful and would have created a dazzling golden image when worn.
Adapted from
- Bonnie Pitman, ed., "Ceremonial mask (1976.W.321)," in Dallas Museum of Art: A Guide to the Collection (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2012), 33.
- Bonnie Pitman, ed., "Headdress ornament with heads flanked by crested crocodiles (1976.W.319)," in Dallas Museum of Art: A Guide to the Collection (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2012), 34.
- Carol Robbins, "Ceremonial mask (1976.W.321)," in Dallas Museum of Art: A Guide to the Collection, ed. Suzanne Kotz (Dallas, TX: Dallas Museum of Art, 1997), 178.
- Bonnie Pitman, ed., "Pendant with two frogs (1976.W.292), Pendant bell depicting a turtle (1976.W.301), Pendant depicting a batlike mask (1976.W.237)," in Dallas Museum of Art: A Guide to the Collection (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2012), 35.
- "Lime Container (Poporo) (1991.419.22)." In Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2000–.https://www.metmuseum.org/toah/works-of-art/1991.419.22/. (August 2009).
NOTES
Quimbaya, 400–700 C.E. (noted on TMS), updated by KJones on 03/25/16, 03/30/16, and 03/31/16.
Catalogue essays
Artist/designers
Cultures
Native Coastal Ecuadorian and Colombian styles: AAT: 300017980
Pre-Columbian Colombian styles: AAT: 300017422
Quimbaya: AAT: 300017997
Pre-Columbian (American): AAT: 300016619
Geography
Colombia (nation): TGN: 1000050
Valle del Cauca (department): TGN: 7005078
Cauca (department): TGN: 1000554
Cordillera Central (mountain range): TGN: 108881
Río Cauca (river): TGN: 1122595
Quimbaya: TGN: 1023952
Process/materials
gold: AAT: 300011021
goldwork: AAT: 300044045
repoussé: AAT: 300054023
chasing (metalworking): AAT: 300054016
embossing (technique): AAT: 300053826
sheet metal: AAT: 300223016
metalwork: AAT: 300015336
hammering (metal finishing): AAT: 300054098
annealing: AAT: 300053886
casting: AAT: 300053104
solder: AAT: 300010993
Historical periods
Individuals
Subject terms
worn costume accessories: AAT: 300209274
jewelry: AAT: 300209286
pendants (jewelry): AAT: 300046002
costume: AAT: 300209261
ornaments: AAT: 300266794
decorating (process): AAT: 300056257
figures (representations): AAT: 300189808
animals (Animalia kingdom): AAT: 300249395
insects (animals): AAT: 300310470
snails (Gastropoda class / Mollusca phylum): AAT: 300249702
geometric motifs: AAT: 300009764
geometric shape: AAT: 300263819
geometric patterns: AAT: 300165213
circular (shape): AAT: 300263827
scrolls (spirals/motifs): AAT: 300010094
spirals (geometric figures): AAT: 300163114
lines (geometric concept): AAT: 300056279
bands (decorative): DMA
raised (form attribute): AAT: 300010354
relief (sculpture techniques): AAT: 300053622
funerary objects: AAT: 300234126
ceremonial costume: AAT: 300210387
nobility (nobles / aristocracy): AAT: 300025942
power: AAT: 300374809
prestige: AAT: 300343604
social status: AAT: 300065206
symmetry: AAT: 300056249
light (energy): AAT: 300056024
polishing (finishing): AAT: 300053867
shiny (shine): AAT: 300065244
burials: AAT: 300263485
burial chambers: AAT: 300004088
village: AAT: 300008372
Museo de América de Madrid (Spanish museum): ULAN: 500372608
Museo de América (Spanish repository): ULAN: 500302380
Madrid (Spain): TGN: 7380605
myth: AAT: 300201023
mythical or legendary beings: AAT: 300375725
deities: AAT: 300343850
supernatural (concepts): AAT: 300055947
protection: AAT: 300164923
miniature (size): AAT: 300121995
RELATED OBJECTS
PROVENANCE
Until 1976: Nora and John Wise, New York [1]
From 1976: Dallas Museum of Fine Arts, The Nora and John Wise Collection, gift of Mr. and Mrs. Jake L. Hamon, the Eugene McDermott Family, Mr. and Mrs. Algur H. Meadows and the Meadows Foundation, Incorporated, and Mr. and Mrs. John D. Murchison [1], [2]
[1] The main source for this provenance is letter from A.L. Woodman, Chief of Valuation Analysis Section of the Internal Revenue Service, to Harry S. Parker, Director of the Dallas Museum of Fine Arts (dated July 23, 1979, copy in Dallas Museum of Art Collections Records Object File, Confidential). Exceptions and other supporting documents are noted.
[2] The name of the Dallas Museum of Fine Arts, founded in 1933, was changed to the Dallas Museum of Art in 1983.
AUDIO ASSETS
VIDEO ASSETS
IMAGE ASSETS
WEB RESOURCES
ARCHIVAL RESOURCES
FUN FACTS
- This pendant was featured in the World of Ancient Gold exhibit at the New York's World's Fair, Travel and Transportation Pavilion (April 22-October 18, 1964).
TEACHING IDEAS
RULES
Apply to objects where number equals 1976.W.344
Category
rules_operator
AND
General Description
Among the societies of Central America, gold ornaments were important symbols of power and prestige that expressed authority and status in life and in death. The pre-Hispanic goldwork of Colombia is traditionally classified by archaeological zones, or regions, each with stylistic associations, varying in iconography and technology: Calima, Quimbaya, Tolima, and Nariño in the southwest; Zenú (Sinú) and Tairona in northwestern Colombia; and Muisca in the central highlands southeast of Bogotá. The Quimbaya style was first identified in 1890, when an elite burial of six individuals with 122 gold objects was found near the village of Filandia in the middle Cauca Valley. All these gold objects are now housed in the Museo de América in Madrid, known as the Treasure of the Quimbayas.
The image on this gold pendant is flattened and bilaterally symmetrical for maximum decorative effect. Although not visible from the front, a suspension loop is located on the reverse—craftsmen thus cleverly adapted the natural forms of totemic creatures to the functional demands of this jewelry. Decorated with delicate spirals that emanate from the top and bottom and ribbed bands over the entire body, this ornament represents an insect, possibly a snail. Pendants were likely worn on ceremonial occasions, and similar pendants were still being worn at the beginning of the 16th century conquest. For many peoples of the ancient Americas, animals and insects were likely mythic figures and considered intercessors. Such pendants may have offered protection to the wearer, and when represented in gold, such as this example, they would have been doubly powerful and would have created a dazzling golden image when worn.
Adapted from
- Bonnie Pitman, ed., "Ceremonial mask (1976.W.321)," in Dallas Museum of Art: A Guide to the Collection (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2012), 33.
- Bonnie Pitman, ed., "Headdress ornament with heads flanked by crested crocodiles (1976.W.319)," in Dallas Museum of Art: A Guide to the Collection (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2012), 34.
- Carol Robbins, "Ceremonial mask (1976.W.321)," in Dallas Museum of Art: A Guide to the Collection, ed. Suzanne Kotz (Dallas, TX: Dallas Museum of Art, 1997), 178.
- Bonnie Pitman, ed., "Pendant with two frogs (1976.W.292), Pendant bell depicting a turtle (1976.W.301), Pendant depicting a batlike mask (1976.W.237)," in Dallas Museum of Art: A Guide to the Collection (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2012), 35.
- "Lime Container (Poporo) (1991.419.22)." In Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2000–.https://www.metmuseum.org/toah/works-of-art/1991.419.22/. (August 2009).
Fun Facts
- This pendant was featured in the World of Ancient Gold exhibit at the New York's World's Fair, Travel and Transportation Pavilion (April 22-October 18, 1964).
Archival Resources
Web Resources
Notes
Quimbaya, 400–700 C.E. (noted on TMS), updated by KJones on 03/25/16, 03/30/16, and 03/31/16.
Catalogue essays
Artist/designers
Cultures
Native Coastal Ecuadorian and Colombian styles: AAT: 300017980
Pre-Columbian Colombian styles: AAT: 300017422
Quimbaya: AAT: 300017997
Pre-Columbian (American): AAT: 300016619
Geography
Colombia (nation): TGN: 1000050
Valle del Cauca (department): TGN: 7005078
Cauca (department): TGN: 1000554
Cordillera Central (mountain range): TGN: 108881
Río Cauca (river): TGN: 1122595
Quimbaya: TGN: 1023952
Process/materials
gold: AAT: 300011021
goldwork: AAT: 300044045
repoussé: AAT: 300054023
chasing (metalworking): AAT: 300054016
embossing (technique): AAT: 300053826
sheet metal: AAT: 300223016
metalwork: AAT: 300015336
hammering (metal finishing): AAT: 300054098
annealing: AAT: 300053886
casting: AAT: 300053104
solder: AAT: 300010993
Historical periods
Individuals
Subject terms
worn costume accessories: AAT: 300209274
jewelry: AAT: 300209286
pendants (jewelry): AAT: 300046002
costume: AAT: 300209261
ornaments: AAT: 300266794
decorating (process): AAT: 300056257
figures (representations): AAT: 300189808
animals (Animalia kingdom): AAT: 300249395
insects (animals): AAT: 300310470
snails (Gastropoda class / Mollusca phylum): AAT: 300249702
geometric motifs: AAT: 300009764
geometric shape: AAT: 300263819
geometric patterns: AAT: 300165213
circular (shape): AAT: 300263827
scrolls (spirals/motifs): AAT: 300010094
spirals (geometric figures): AAT: 300163114
lines (geometric concept): AAT: 300056279
bands (decorative): DMA
raised (form attribute): AAT: 300010354
relief (sculpture techniques): AAT: 300053622
funerary objects: AAT: 300234126
ceremonial costume: AAT: 300210387
nobility (nobles / aristocracy): AAT: 300025942
power: AAT: 300374809
prestige: AAT: 300343604
social status: AAT: 300065206
symmetry: AAT: 300056249
light (energy): AAT: 300056024
polishing (finishing): AAT: 300053867
shiny (shine): AAT: 300065244
burials: AAT: 300263485
burial chambers: AAT: 300004088
village: AAT: 300008372
Museo de América de Madrid (Spanish museum): ULAN: 500372608
Museo de América (Spanish repository): ULAN: 500302380
Madrid (Spain): TGN: 7380605
myth: AAT: 300201023
mythical or legendary beings: AAT: 300375725
deities: AAT: 300343850
supernatural (concepts): AAT: 300055947
protection: AAT: 300164923
miniature (size): AAT: 300121995
RELATED OBJECTS
PROVENANCE
Until 1976: Nora and John Wise, New York [1]
From 1976: Dallas Museum of Fine Arts, The Nora and John Wise Collection, gift of Mr. and Mrs. Jake L. Hamon, the Eugene McDermott Family, Mr. and Mrs. Algur H. Meadows and the Meadows Foundation, Incorporated, and Mr. and Mrs. John D. Murchison [1], [2]
[1] The main source for this provenance is letter from A.L. Woodman, Chief of Valuation Analysis Section of the Internal Revenue Service, to Harry S. Parker, Director of the Dallas Museum of Fine Arts (dated July 23, 1979, copy in Dallas Museum of Art Collections Records Object File, Confidential). Exceptions and other supporting documents are noted.
[2] The name of the Dallas Museum of Fine Arts, founded in 1933, was changed to the Dallas Museum of Art in 1983.
AUDIO ASSETS
VIDEO ASSETS
rules
Apply To
Objects
number
Equals
1976.W.344
source file
object_notes_3_a-0652.xml.nores