Costa Rican Necklace w/ Emeralds, Gold & Jadeite

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All That Glitters | Ancient & Ethnographic

By Artemis Gallery

Dec 10, 2020

Set Reminder 2020-12-10 12:00:00 2020-12-10 12:00:00 America/New_York Bidsquare Bidsquare : All That Glitters | Ancient & Ethnographic https://www.bidsquare.com/auctions/artemis-gallery/all-that-glitters-ancient-ethnographic-6192
Think glass, silver, gold, bronze, brass, wearable, decorative, worth owning! Unique finds from Egypt, Greece, Italy, the Near East. Asian art from east to west. Pre-Columbian. Spanish Colonial. Fabulous Russian Icons with silver oklads. Ancient / Ethnographic jewelry, and more! Artemis Gallery info@artemisgallery.com

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• Lot Description
  Pre-Columbian, Central America, Costa Rica, Guanacaste/Nicoya region, ca. 200 to 600 CE. An absolutely gorgeous necklace which presents dozens of modern forest-green emeralds, each with several facets encircling the exterior. A trio of hand-carved jadeite amulets in abstract axe-god form constitute the main decorative element, and rod-shaped jadeite beads are suspended on both strands. A group of 12 openwork tubular beads are formed from 68.5% gold (equivalent to 15K+ gold), the 6 larger separating the jadeite carvings, and the 6 smaller along the upper terminals. Additional jadeite beads in tubular and discoid forms adorn the upper strands as well, and a gold-filled French hook and loop combo cap the ends. A superb and stunning example of ancient artistry meets modern stylization! Size (necklace): 20.5" L (52.1 cm); size (largest amulet): 0.55" W x 2.1" H (1.4 cm x 5.3 cm); quality of gold: 68.5% (equivalent to 15K+).
  
  Costa Rica, along with Mesoamerica, is one of the two regions where jade was extensively carved in the Pre-Columbian world. The earliest example of worked jade, a pendant excavated from a burial site on the Nicoya Peninsula, dated to the mid-first millennium BCE. It appears that jade continued to be carved into personal ornaments, usually depicting animals such as birds, monkey, or frogs, until approximately 700 CE when gold became the favored material to fashion such ornaments. Elements of necklaces such as those in this example stand as a testament to the meticulously-detailed artistry which was produced in this region. Note how the colors of the forest-green emeralds are illuminated next to the intensely-yellow gold tube beads, almost as if the forests of Costa Rica are awash with the blinding light of the sun, and how the varying hues of the carved jadeite elements also enhance the attractive nature of the necklace as abstract representations of the natural flora and fauna.
  
  Provenance: ex-private West Palm Beach, Florida, USA collection; ex-private Woram collection, acquired in the 1950s to 1960s
  
  All items legal to buy/sell under U.S. Statute covering cultural patrimony Code 2600, CHAPTER 14, and are guaranteed to be as described or your money back.
  
  A Certificate of Authenticity will accompany all winning bids.
  
  We ship worldwide and handle all shipping in-house for your convenience.
  
  #143696

  Condition

  Strung in modern times and wearable as shown. Jadeite and gold components are ancient, and emeralds and gold-filled hardware are modern. Light encrustations to gold beads, with minor abrasions to jadeite carvings, and softening to some finer details, otherwise intact and near-choice. Light patina on gold components.
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