Lot 145
Pre-Columbian, Colombia, Sinu, ca. 10th to mid 16th century CE. Finely crafted from 20 karat gold, this crescent-shaped earring was cast via the lost wax (cire perdue) process from this culture which inhabited the hills and valleys of the middle Cauca River during the centuries prior to Spanish conquest in the 1530s. Presenting an intricate composition of two filigreed (displaying a delicate lacelike openwork continuous weave motif) registers separated by striated bands, the piece is further adorned by four stylized quadrupeds that prance along its upper bar - possibly representing llamas. On top is a suspension ring with a small, deliberate opening for fitting it through the ear. Size: 1.5" W x 1" H (3.8 cm x 2.5 cm); 2.1" H (5.3 cm) on included custom stand; 2.7 grams
Similar examples have been written about by Heidi King of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in "The Art of Precolumbian Gold." King writes, "Ear ornaments are ubiquitous in the personal jewelry of ancient America. South American peoples were especially fond of their use, and, for millennia, they made the ornaments in an enormous variety of pattern, size, and material. Many of the shapes and sizes of these ornaments are so extraordinary that to people of twentieth-century sensibility they seem unwearable. That is not the case with the pairs of ear pendants here, for they conform to a familiar, present-day pattern. They could be worn, more or less, comfortably, hanging from the earlobes. The delicate wire work of which they are composed gives the ornaments a light and graceful aspect of great appeal. Indeed they were much admired in ancient times too, for this type of ornament was made in some quantity." Our example, being a single earring, could be fitted with a modern catch in order to wear on the ear or would make a lovely necklace pendant.
King continues, "During the sixteenth century, the Sinu region of Caribbean Colombia, where ornaments of this type have been identified, was very rich in gold, a fact much commented upon by the Spanish conquerors. The desire for gold soon led them to search not only the living but the dead, and the looting of ancient graves began. Gold objects had been important mortuary offerings in the Sinu for centuries." (The Art of Precolumbian Gold: The Jan Mitchell Collection" edited by Julie Jones. Boston: Little Brown & Company, 1985, p. 164) Goldwork that survived such plundering is understandably rare.
Provenance: private southern California, USA collection, acquired in the 1970s to mid-1980s
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#141026
- Condition: Excellent condition.
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