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Jade in Costa Rica

• 
  Bird Pendant, 1st century B.C.–1st century A.D.
  Costa Rica; Guanacaste-Nicoya
  Jadeite; H. 1 5/8 in. (4.1 cm)
  Rogers Fund, 1993 (1993.302)
  
• 
  Bird Pendant, 1st–5th century
  Costa Rica; Guanacaste-Nicoya
  Jadeite; H. 6 1/2 in. (16.5 cm)
  Rogers Fund, 1993 (1993.114)
  
• 
  Bird Pendant, 1st–5th century
  Costa Rica; Atlantic Watershed
  Jadeite; H. 2 5/8 in. (6.7 cm)
  The Michael C. Rockefeller Memorial Collection, Bequest of Nelson A. Rockefeller, 1979 (1979.206.1138)
  
• 
  Figure Pendant, 1st–5th century
  Costa Rica, Guanacaste-Nicoya
  Jadeite; 7 7/8 in. (20 cm)
  Purchase, Stephanie H. Berheim and Jan and Marica Vilcek Gifts, 2011 (2011.364)
• 
  Frog Pendant, 4th–8th century
  Costa Rica; Altantic Watershed
  Jade (jadeite); H. 2 in. (5.1 cm)
  The Michael C. Rockefeller Memorial Collection, Bequest of Nelson A. Rockefeller, 1979 (1979.206.846)
  
• 
  Masked Figure Pendant, 4th–8th century
  Costa Rica; Atlantic Watershed
  Jade (jadeite); H. 4 1/2 in. (11.4 cm)
  Purchase, Arthur M. Bullowa Bequest, 1994 (1994.429)
  

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Costa Rica, a tropical country of environmental and biological diversity, is located between Nicaragua to the north and Panama to the south in lower Central America. With Mesoamerica, Costa Rica is one of the two regions in which jade was extensively carved in Precolumbian times. The earliest evidence for worked jade, a pendant excavated in a burial on the Nicoya Peninsula, is dated to the mid-first millennium B.C., and jade continued to be carved into similar personal ornaments until approximately 700 A.D., when its use appears to have died out and/or been replaced by a fashion for ornaments of gold. The early pendant was made in the shape of a celt, or ax, with a top worked into a bird head and torso. Circular eyes and a wide downturned beak define the head above folded wings, in a basic version of what would be the classic Costa Rican bird pendant in jade. The bird-celt pendant would undergo many elaborations during subsequent centuries, all the while retaining these essential features.

With Mesoamerica, Costa Rica is one of the two regions in which jade was extensively carved in Precolumbian times.

Related

Cited Works of Art or Images (2)

• 
• 

Timelines (3)

• Central America, 1–500 a.d.
• Central America, 1000 b.c.–1 a.d.
• Central America, 500–1000 a.d.

Primary Thematic Essays ()

Other Thematic Essays (3)

• Ancient American Jade
• Jade in Mesoamerica
• Tenochtitlan

Maps (1)

• World, 1000 B.C.-1 A.D.

Index Terms (8)

Art Movement/Style

• Atlantic Watershed Art of the Americas
• Chiriquí Art of the Americas
• Guanacaste–Nicoya Art of the Americas

Geography/Place

• Central America

Material and Technique

• Jade

Object

• Personal Ornament
• Pendant

Subject Matter/Theme

• Bird

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Department of Arts of Africa, Oceania, and the Americas, The Metropolitan Museum of Art

Citation Department of AAOA. "Jade in Costa Rica". In Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2000–. http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/jade3/hd_jade3.htm (October 2001) Further Reading Jones, Julie, ed. Jade in Ancient Costa Rica. New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1999. Related exhibitions and online features Special Exhibitions (including upcoming, current, and past exhibitions)