Subject: chief
Culture: Diquis
Setting: Costa Rica 15-16thc
Object: jewelry
Alva *
* Alva
Alva *
* Alva
Alva *
* Alva
* Kimbell Art Museum
"Panama, Azuero Peninsula, Conte style, Late Classic to Postclassic period,600-1521
Pendants: Twin Warriors, Two Deer Heads c. 700-1200 Gold ...
The art of casting elaborate designs in gold had emerged in Panama by the middle of the first millenium A.D.; regional schools excelled in the techniques of cast and beaten gold. Gold became the primary prestige material in this region, and high-status individuals wore numerous ornaments in this material, which were later placed in quantity in their burials.
"One of the most distinctive regional styles of Panama is that of the Conte group. In the Two Deer Heads pendant, what my initially appear as merely decorative elaboration above the deer heads is in fact an artful stylization -- a pair of outward-facing profile heads of an important diety, a crested saurian. The long, many-toothed snout of the crocodile is topped by a notched 'crest' that alludes to the skin texture of the crocodile and other lizards. The eyes of all four heads were once inset with bone, amber, or hardstone. The pendant may have had a talismanic function, invoking saurian or other animal spirits that were believed to have a special protective relationship to the wearer.
"The subject of the Twin Warriors pendant is one of the most central to the Conte style, rendered here with exceptional technical and sculptural skill. A pair of standing bat-human figures hold paddle-shaped clubs in their outer hands. Each has a crested saurian head hanging from either side of its waistband. Their batlike heads are surmounted by what may be a pair of frontal birds, with simplified profile bird-heads at either side doubling as ear ornaments. These figures may represent warrior chiefs who were intermediaries between the earthly and cosmic realms. Pendants of this type probably functioned as emblems of status or as amulets."
