Figure-celt pendant
Figure-celt pendant
Figure-celt pendant
Figure-celt pendant

On view

Art of the Ancient Americas

Figure-celt pendant,

500 BCE–500 CE

Greater Nicoya or Central Pacific
Period IV
1998-185

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

Title
Figure-celt pendant
Dates

500 BCE–500 CE

Medium
Jade
Dimensions
11.5 × 5 × 1.4 cm (4 1/2 × 1 15/16 × 9/16 in.)
Credit Line
Gift of Charles L. Starke, M.D., Class of 1968
Object Number
1998-185
Place Made

North America, Costa Rica, Central Pacific region

Marks/Labels/Seals
Painted on verso: 1982.71.9
Culture
Costa Rican
Period
Pre-Columbian Central American styles and periods
Type
jades, figurines, ornament, pendants (jewelry)
Materials
jade
Subject
figures (representations)

1998, gift of Charles L. Starke, Briarcliff, New York, to the Princeton University Art Museum.

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