Pre-Columbian, Colombia, Tairona culture, ca. 800 to 1200 CE. Six zoomorphic gold/copper alloy creatures, and over twenty small spherical, hollow gold/copper alloy beads. Also: Pre-Columbian, Southern Mexico to Guatemala, Olmec culture, ca. 1150 to 550 BCE. A long, blood-letting tool-shaped pendant made from blue-green jade, four other, greener jade beads, and fourteen rock crystal beads. All of these are strung together on a modern cord with a modern clasp to create a gorgeous piece of wearable art made of ancient elements! Size of jade pendant: 2.75" H (7 cm); length of necklace: 20.5" L (52.1 cm)
Bloodletting seems to have been a common ritual in Olmec society, although most of what we can surmise about it we know from the later Maya, who emulated the Olmec practice. We know that the Olmec used shark's teeth, stingray spines, obsidian blades, and other sharp items to perforate the skin, and they have been found at Formative period sites like La Venta, San Jose Mogote, and Chalcatzingo. There are also stone recreations of these items; for example, the jade effigy of a stingray spine found in a tomb at La Venta. This pendant is another example of the same.
Provenance: ex-private New York, USA collection, ex Arte Primitivo Gallery, acquired in Santa Fe, NM
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#138090
Condition
Ancient beads with modern string and clasp. Some patina on the ancient metal beads. Small chips from the two larger rock crystal beads. The jade is all in excellent condition.