Seahorse pendant

Artists in ancient Colombia, Panama, and Costa Rica shared an early common goldwork tradition, with certain local stylistic adaptations. Using the lost-wax technique, metalsmiths made ornaments depicting frogs, crocodiles, and birds, as well as hybrid beings. This pendant, for example, combines the form of a seahorse with human characteristics.

Seahorses are uncommon subjects in ancient American art, and this rare example is depicted with imagination. The elongated body, curved tail, fins, and fishlike head with large, bulbous eyes suggest a seahorse, but the torso with square shoulders and arms that hold a bar to the mouth are human. The head is surmounted by two plumelike appendages, perhaps representing a feather headdress or simplified antlers. Loops on the bar once likely held dangling elements that contributed a kinetic quality to the ornament.