Page 613 - Art In The Age Of Exploration (Great Section on Chinese Art Ming Dynasty)
P. 613
4 8 5 486
JAGUAR EFFIGY WITH BIFURCATED TAIL MAN IN AVIAN COSTUME
AND OCCLUDING PLAQUES WITH FlLIGRAM
Diquis Diquis
cast gold cast gold
3
9 x8.y (^/2X3 /s) 11 x 9.6 (4 /s x 3 /4J
3
3
Museos del Banco Central de Costa Rica, San Jose Museos del Banco Central de Costa Rica, San Jose
This piece portrays a fairly realistic jaguar, but its The central figure in this composition shares
bifurcated serpent-headed tail betrays its super- many traits with cat. 483, although it has the
natural or mythological aspect. Crocodiles are also typically flattened human arms holding a serpent
occasionally shown with such tails, the meaning belt-penis sheath instead of wings. Four smaller
of which is still unclear. At the central Costa human-avian figures surround him within an
Rican site of Guayabo de Turrialba, a national ornate square of false filigree. This piece, and very
park, there is a large boulder petroglyph with a probably cat. 484 as well, originally possessed the
jaguar on one side and a crocodile on the other, occluding hammered plaques of gold still present
both with bifurcated tails. in cat. 485. M.J.S.
Of special interest in this piece are the four
large occluding plaques of hammered sheet gold,
which were attached to the piece after it was
removed from the mold. These pendants attracted
attention, tinkling like bells as well as glittering.
The plaques may have symbolized the shaman's or
chief's ability to assume animal shapes and attri-
butes at will. M.J.S.
487
ANTHROPOMORPHIC AVIAN EFFIGY
Diquis
cast gold
3
l
9.6 x 10.7 (3 /4 x 4 /4)
Museos del Banco Central de Costa Rica, San Jose
Whereas this and cats. 488-490 appear to be
"eagle" (really buzzard-vulture) pendants,
their anthropomorphic essence is betrayed by
human faces, however obscured by masks and
headdresses, and the ear-spool/ "hear and under-
stand" spirals that can usually be seen at the sides
of the head. Other body features, either stylized
or fantastically elaborated, are more avian than
human.
Such variations on a bird with spread wings and
flared tail make up a large percentage of all Costa
Rican gold work. This motif represents an effi-
cient use of the precious substance, creating a
large reflective surface with a relatively small
amount of metal (it should be remembered that
the wings and tail were part of a single cast for the
whole piece). Two reasons for the pervasiveness of
this motif are suggested by the observable world.
One is that, even today, large birds perch in the
treetops in just this posture, feathers outspread,
to dry themselves in the sun after a tropical rain.
612 CIRCA 1492
