Page 628 - Art In The Age Of Exploration (Great Section on Chinese Art Ming Dynasty)

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VESSEL WITH FINIAL WITH FIVE BIRDS FINIAL WITH DOUBLE-HEADED BIRD
ANTHROPOMORPHIC PEDESTAL
Sinu Sinu
Sinu cast gold cast gold
l
2
ceramic 5.4 x 20.32 (2/s x 8) 11.43 * 12.70 (4 /2 x 5J
7
3
34 x 20 (i} /8 x 7 /sj National Museum of the American Indian, National Museum of the American Indian,
Museo del Oro, Banco de la Repiiblica, Bogota Smithsonian Institution Smithsonian Institution
Various types of ceramic vessels were made to be This is one of the largest lost-wax castings from Like other Sinu finials, this double-headed bird
placed in the tombs of important persons. The the Sinu archaeological zone. It demonstrates appears to have been attached to the end of a
frequency with which women are represented the realistic manner in which Sinu goldsmiths wooden object that has not been preserved. The
reflects their social and political importance in depicted creatures of the natural world. The fer- ferrule has holes for pins, which held the metal
this culture. A.M.F. rule is designed to slip over the end of a wooden firmly in place. Although the birds' breast feath-
rod, which, because of the effect of climatic condi- ers and the crests on their heads are reduced to
tions in the Caribbean lowlands on organic mate- stylized spirals, the modeling retains the realism
rials, has disappeared from the archaeological characteristic of Sinu art. W.B.
record. This rod would have been too thin to take
any serious weight. For this reason and because
the birds are seen at their best with the object held
horizontally, the finial may have served as the
finger grip, more ceremonial than practical, of a
wooden spear thrower. W.B.

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