Page 647 - Art In The Age Of Exploration (Great Section on Chinese Art Ming Dynasty)

568

NOSE ORNAMENT

Muisca
cast gold
9.3 xiy.i (j /8X 6 A)
3
5
Museo del Oro, Banco de la Republica, Bogota
The decoration of this cast piece consists of two
serpents with bird's heads at each end. c. p.

569
PECTORAL

Muisca
cast gold-copper alloy
7
21X22.5 (8V4X8 /8)
Museo del Oro, Banco de la Republica, Bogota

This extraordinary pectoral, found in Guatavita
(Cundinamarca), is composed of a stylized bird
with the tail spread. Above are six bird bodies
with six figures crouching on top and two others
on the wings, making a total of eight human fig-
ures. These may represent political chiefs.
It appears that this work is an allegory of polit-
ical power. Similar pendants are known from the
Tairona area, where groups living today still speak
dialects of the Chibcha language, which was
spoken by the Muiscas and the Taironas. Like the
present-day U'wa, who live in the Sierra Nevada
del Cocuy, the Muiscas and Taironas conceived of
their political and social power in the form of a
single body, represented by the bird, headed by
the different clan chiefs. c. p.

646 CIRCA 1492