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Gallery 357 - Precolumbian Art

Part of Arts of Africa, Oceania, and the Americas

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Arts of Africa, Oceania, and the Americas Gallery 357
Arts of Africa, Oceania, and the Americas Gallery 357
Arts of Africa, Oceania, and the Americas Gallery 357

Gallery Highlights

  • Female Figure
    Female Figure

    Date: late 3rd millennium BCE
    Accession Number: 1980.83.15

  • Snuff Tray
    Snuff Tray

    Date: 4th–10th century
    Accession Number: 1989.389

  • Earflare, Winger Messenger
    Earflare, Winger Messenger

    Date: 3rd–7th century
    Accession Number: 66.196.41

  • Earflare, Winged Messenger
    Earflare, Winged Messenger

    Date: 3rd–7th century
    Accession Number: 66.196.40

  • Drum
    Drum

    Date: 1st century
    Accession Number: 1978.412.111

  • Standing Figure
    Standing Figure

    Date: 1st century BCE–1st century CE
    Accession Number: 1995.427

See all objects from this gallery

Related Content

  • Timeline of Art History (18)
  • Exhibitions & Events (5)

  • Ancient American Jade
  • Colonial Kero Cups
  • Dualism in Andean Art
  • Gold of the Indies
  • Music in the Ancient Andes
  • Arts of the Spanish Americas, 1550–1850
  • Mexico, 1000 B.C.–1 A.D.
  • Northern Andes, 1000 B.C.–1 A.D.
  • Mesoamerica and Central America, 2000–1000 B.C.
  • South America, 2000–1000 B.C.
  • Mesoamerica and Central America, 8000–2000 B.C.
  • South America, 8000–2000 B.C.
  • Northern Andes, 1000–1400 A.D.
  • Mexico, 1400–1600 A.D.
  • Northern Andes, 1400–1600 A.D.
  • Andes, 1–500 A.D.
  • Mexico, 1–500 A.D.
  • Northern Andes, 500–1000 A.D.

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Exhibitions:

  • African Art, New York, and the Avant-Garde
    From November 27, 2012

Events:

  • Art Explore Summer Fun—Feathers of Africa and the Americas (Ages 11–14)
    July 9, 2013
  • Summer Sketching—African Sculpture (Ages 11–18)
    July 26, 2013
  • From Performance and Ritual Objects to Museum Artworks
    July 30, 2013
  • From Performance and Ritual Objects to Museum Artworks
    August 7, 2013
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Card No. 8, from the advertising card series "Cabinet Photos, Allen & Ginter" (H807, Type 2), issued by Allen & Ginter to promote Virginia Brights Cigarettes
"A Sport for Every Girl" - Women and Sports in the Collection of Jefferson R. Burdick
773
1st Fl
Morning Glory
Cambodian Rattan - The Sculptures of Sopheap Pich
209, 249, 251
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Duke Francesco I d'Este
Velázquez's Portrait of Duke Francesco I d'Este - A Masterpiece from the Galleria Estense, Modena
624
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The Boxer: An Ancient Masterpiece
The Boxer - An Ancient Masterpiece
153
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Birds and Flowers of the Four Seasons; Cranes and Flowers of the Four Seasons
Birds in the Art of Japan -
225–232
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At War with the Obvious:  Photographs by William Eggleston
At War with the Obvious - Photographs by William Eggleston
852
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Making the Invisible Visible
Making the Invisible Visible - Conservation and Islamic Art
458
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The Cyrus Cylinder and Ancient Persia: Charting a New Empire
The Cyrus Cylinder and Ancient Persia - Charting a New Empire
404
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Objects from the Kharga Oasis
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302
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Land Marks
Land Marks -
399
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The Fall of Richmond, Virginia on the Night of April 2nd, 1865
Drawings and Prints - Selections from the Permanent Collection
690
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The Camp of the Seventh Regiment near Frederick, Maryland, 1863
The Civil War and American Art -
964–965, 955
1st Fl
African Art, New York, and the Avant Garde
African Art, New York, and the Avant-Garde -
359
1st Fl
Living in Style: Five Centuries of Interior Design from the Collection of Drawings and Prints
Living in Style - Five Centuries of Interior Design from the Collection of Drawings and Prints
691–693
2nd Fl
Bashford Dean and the Creation of the Arms and Armor Department
Bashford Dean and the Creation of the Arms and Armor Department -
380
1st Fl
The Roof Garden Commission: Imran Qureshi
The Roof Garden Commission: Imran Qureshi -
926
1st Fl
 Italian Renaissance and Baroque Bronze Sculpture from the Robert Lehman Collection
Italian Renaissance and Baroque Bronze Sculpture from the Robert Lehman Collection -
960
1st Fl
Everyday Epiphanies: Photography and Daily Life Since 1969
Everyday Epiphanies - Photography and Daily Life Since 1969
851
2nd Fl
Poudreuse
Furniture by Abraham and David Roentgen on loan from the Kunstgewerbemuseum, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin -
553, 533
1st Fl
Fabergé
Fabergé from the Matilda Geddings Gray Foundation Collection -
555
1st Fl

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The Jan Mitchell Treasury contains part of the Museum's holdings of Precolumbian art, including The Nathan Cummings Collection of Precolumbian Art, which represent a large area of the two great American continents that reaches from Mexico south through Peru. The collection covers a 3,500-year period that began at about 3000 B.C.E. and ended with the arrival of the Spanish in the early sixteenth century C.E. Works on view are displayed in three separate sections within two galleries—South American art, Precolumbian gold (both in this gallery), and Mesoamerican art (Gallery 358).

South American Art

Art in South America began as early as the third millennium B.C.E. in communities along the northern reaches of the Pacific Coast. Many of the communities went on to thrive and grow, culminating in the fifteenth-century rise of the Inka Empire, which incorporated almost all of the Andean region. This section of the gallery displays works of art in various media and representing distinctive styles, including ceramics, woven textiles, and more.

Precolumbian Gold Treasury

The Jan Mitchell Treasury for Precolumbian Works of Art in Gold holds a representative display of ancient American gold. Its contents come from all of the gold-working regions in the Americas, from Peru in South America to Mexico in North America, and date from the late centuries B.C.E. until the fifteenth century C.E. The primary, but not exclusive, use for precious metals in ancient times was as personal ornaments. Diadems and crowns for the heads, necklaces and pectorals for the chest, and ornaments for the ears are salient among them. The privilege of wearing gold was reserved for persons of high rank or for the gods they revered.

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