Pre-Columbian, found in Venezuela, traded from the Colombian Tairona culture, ca. 10th to 16th century CE. A large example of a "batwing" pectoral, so called because of its resemblance to the flying mammal, although its actual meaning is unclear. The stone it is carved from is beautiful, pale green with sparkling bands of inclusions. Two surface fissures are filled with reddish matter - possibly cinnabar, deliberately put there as a pigment, or possibly accumulated soil. The "wings" widen slightly towards their terminals; the "head", a low rectangle at the upper center, is drilled through twice for suspension. Items of this general shape have been found from southern Mexico to Venezuela as well as on some islands in the Caribbean, often found in caches of other stone artifacts buried under floors of houses and temples. The Kogi and Ica people, who are direct descendants of the Tairona, wear similar items as rattles, attached to the elbows of dancers. They may have been used similarly in the pre-Columbian era. Size: 12.7" W x 2.75" H (32.3 cm x 7 cm)
See a similar example at the Metropolitan Museum of Art: https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/317445
Provenance: private Tong collection, Florida, USA, by inheritance from the collection of Louis L. Scher, found in Venezuela during the 1960s and 1970s
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#145094
Condition
Intact, with a few tiny nicks from peripheries commensurate with age. Light deposits on surface.