Object Notes

Pendant crosses have been in use in Ethiopia since at least the 15th century, when Emperor Zara Yacob decreed that all loyal subjects must demonstrate their Christian faith by wearing a cross.

Pendant crosses have been in use in Ethiopia since at least the 15th century, when Emperor Zara Yacob decreed that all loyal subjects must demonstrate their Christian faith by wearing a cross.

Pendant crosses have been in use in Ethiopia since at least the 15th century, when Emperor Zara Yacob decreed that all loyal subjects must demonstrate their Christian faith by wearing a cross.

Pendant crosses have been in use in Ethiopia since at least the 15th century, when Emperor Zara Yacob decreed that all loyal subjects must demonstrate their Christian faith by wearing a cross.

Pendant crosses have been in use in Ethiopia since at least the 15th century, when Emperor Zara Yacob decreed that all loyal subjects must demonstrate their Christian faith by wearing a cross.

This standing male figure is rendered in a semi-abstract manner. Facial features are limited to open eyes and a nose; the mouth—a thin line—is obscured under layers of pigment. Rows of blackened parallel lines form the hairstyle.

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. Made to be suspended around the neck, gold pendants were still worn by local inhabitants of the Caribbean coast when Europeans encountered them at the turn of the 16th century. 

Robert Moskowitz has blended the border between literalness and abstraction since the 1960s. In the 1970s, he became a prominent leader of the New Image movement (from the Whitney Museum's 1978 exhibition "New Image Painting").