Avian Celt Pendant300–700 CE

On view:

Geffen Galleries

Title: Avian Celt Pendant
Culture: Greater Nicoya or Caribbean Watershed
Place Made: Costa Rica, Nicoya Peninsula
Date Made: 300–700 CE
Medium: Jadeite
Dimensions: 4 3/8 × 1 × 1 in. (11.11 × 2.54 × 2.54 cm)
Credit Line: The Phil Berg Collection
Accession Number: M.71.73.310
Classification: Stone
Collecting Area: Art of the Ancient Americas
Curatorial Notes: Celtiform pendants carved into a shape depicting stacked birds have been found widely in Costa Rica. This example shows an avian figure with a prominent triangular beak, stylized wings, and a smaller bird perched on its head. Stacked birds, or beings with other animals on top of the head, are common motifs in the ancestral iconography of Central America and beyond, and are often interpreted as representing the idea of an alter ego or spirit helper. Pendants like this one would have been worn as amulets to provide protection against evil or disease, or as symbols of power signaling the appropriation of avian qualities such as flight or enhanced vision.

Julia Burtenshaw

2024
Selected Bibliography: Berg, Phil. Man Came This Way: Objects from the Phil Berg Collection. Los Angeles: Los Angeles County Museum of Art, 1971.

On view:

Geffen Galleries

Title: Avian Celt Pendant
Culture: Greater Nicoya or Caribbean Watershed
Place Made: Costa Rica, Nicoya Peninsula
Date Made: 300–700 CE
Medium: Jadeite
Dimensions: 4 3/8 × 1 × 1 in. (11.11 × 2.54 × 2.54 cm)
Credit Line: The Phil Berg Collection
Accession Number: M.71.73.310
Classification: Stone
Collecting Area: Art of the Ancient Americas
Curatorial Notes: Celtiform pendants carved into a shape depicting stacked birds have been found widely in Costa Rica. This example shows an avian figure with a prominent triangular beak, stylized wings, and a smaller bird perched on its head. Stacked birds, or beings with other animals on top of the head, are common motifs in the ancestral iconography of Central America and beyond, and are often interpreted as representing the idea of an alter ego or spirit helper. Pendants like this one would have been worn as amulets to provide protection against evil or disease, or as symbols of power signaling the appropriation of avian qualities such as flight or enhanced vision.

Julia Burtenshaw

2024
Selected Bibliography: Berg, Phil. Man Came This Way: Objects from the Phil Berg Collection. Los Angeles: Los Angeles County Museum of Art, 1971.