Page 644 - Art In The Age Of Exploration (Great Section on Chinese Art Ming Dynasty)

559–560
Two JAGUARS

Muisca
cast gold
:
2
5.7 x 10 and 3.1 x 7.1 (2 /4 x 4 and i /4 x 2 /4J
3
Museo del Oro, Banco de la Republica, Bogota
The Muisca made votive images of the jaguar, the
supreme golden animal whose power makes it
comparable to the sun, and thus to gold itself. Yet
Muisca jaguars are not aggressive in appearance.
On occasion, as in the case of one of the present
examples, their whiskers are exaggeratedly long,
giving them the appearance of dragons, a confu-
sion that is compounded by the fact that the
excess metal remaining from the casting channel
looks like a serpent's tail. C.P.

561
DEER

Muisca
cast gold
3
1.8 x 2.5 /4X i)
(
Museo del Oro, Banco de la Republica, Bogota

Among the Muisca, eating venison was a priv-
ilege reserved for the chieftains, as was wearing
mantles hand-painted with designs similar to
those that decorate this tunjo. C.P.

THE AMERICAS 643