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Figure-Celt Pendant

1st–5th century
On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in Gallery 360
Many bird-form pendants of Costa Rica feature a lower section shaped like a workaday celt or ax. The stone celt of teardrop shape was the common working tool in the ancient Americas, and in some instances the shape itself took on greater, perhaps even sacred, significance. The lower part of this pendant is an example of how the celt shape was integrated into prized personal ornaments. At the top of the pendant, the bird aspects are stylized in a presentation known in greater detail from other jade pendants. To the modern eye, the minimal rendering of the crested bird headdress, the large, flattened earflares, and the acutely angled beak creates the impression of a helmeted warrior or spaceman. Costa Rican bird pendants fall into given groups based on style and imagery, but individual differences also characterize and distinguish them one from the other.

Artwork Details

Object Information
  • Title: Figure-Celt Pendant
  • Date: 1st–5th century
  • Geography: Costa Rica
  • Culture: Guanacaste-Nicoya
  • Medium: Jadeite
  • Dimensions: H. 6 1/2 × W. 1 1/2 × D. 1 in. (16.5 × 3.8 × 2.5 cm)
  • Classifications: Stone-Ornaments, Jade
  • Credit Line: Rogers Fund, 1993
  • Object Number: 1993.114
  • Curatorial Department: The Michael C. Rockefeller Wing

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