Currently not on view
Bird-celt pendant,
500 BCE–500 CE
Costa Rican Jade Carving
During the first centuries A.D., the chiefdoms of Costa Rica prized jade as a material for finely crafted objects. Jade is exceptionally hard, making it extremely challenging and time-consuming to carve. The only known source for jade in the ancient Americas is the Motagua River valley, which today forms the border between Guatemala and Honduras; thus, jade was an exotic, foreign material to the ancient Costa Ricans. It was traded into the region in the form of celts (axe blades), and many Costa Rican jades maintain a basic celt shape. Human and bird forms, such as those exhibited here, are among the most common motifs: they may represent important individuals and powerful animals associated with clans or with supernatural power.
Information
500 BCE–500 CE
North America, Costa Rica, Guanacaste Province, Nicoya peninsula
2016, Gillett G. Griffin (1928-2016), Princeton, NJ, bequeathed to the Princeton University Art Museum.
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