Native American, United States, Eastern Woodland, Mississippian, ca. 200 to 1500 CE. This is a beautiful and rare incised and openwork gorget made from a white shell featuring a head in profile with an elaborate headdress. The face, likely male, is incised into the surface wearing intricate knotted and woven adornments: a headdress, earrings, and necklace. The lips are slightly parted- the protruding piece that supports the openwork head, could represent a tongue or beak. The edges of the disc are incised with stippled and linear decoration and the openwork holes enabled suspension to use as a pectoral pendant or gorget. Mississippian shell gorgets are special items for adornment and burial that carried protective powers and iconography of supernatural beings that represented the 3 realms: the celestial Aboveworld, Middle World or earth, and Underworld. Size: 2" Diameter x 0.12" Thick (5.1 cm x 0.3 cm); 4" H (10.2 cm) on included custom stand.
Provenance: private Hidden Valley Lake, California, USA collection; ex-private California, USA collection
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#170479
Condition
Old loss and chip to periphery and area is smooth with age, otherwise intact. Surface abrasions and nicks. Central figure is clear and well defined. Light mineral deposits.