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Clamshell-Shaped Pendant

900–400 BCE (fabrication); 300–500 CE (deposition)

Not on view

This pendant, probably originally carved in the Gulf Coast of Mexico in the first millennium B.C., was excavated from tomb some one thousand miles to the south, at the site of Talamanca de Tibás, Costa Rica. Its overall shape represents one half of a clamshell and an image of a hand grasping a composite creature was carved on the interior.

Este colgante, esculpido probablemente en las costas del Golfo de México en el primer milenio a. C., fue excavado de una tumba, a unas mil millas (alrededor de 1600 km) al Sur, en el sitio de Talamanca de Tibás (Costa Rica). Su forma general representa la mitad de una concha y en su interior una imagen de una mano sujetando un ser fue tallada.

Clamshell-Shaped Pendant, Jadeite, Olmec — This image cannot be enlarged, viewed at full screen, or downloaded.

Title: Clamshell-Shaped Pendant

Date: 900–400 BCE (fabrication); 300–500 CE (deposition)

Geography: Mexico or Guatemala; Costa Rica, San José Province

Culture: Olmec

Medium: Jadeite

Dimensions: H. 3 7/8 × W. 12 7/16 × D. 11/16 in. (9.9 × 31.6 × 1.7 cm)

Classification: Stone-Ornaments

Credit Line: Colección Museo Nacional de Costa Rica/CCSS, San José (1.5 TM[36])

The Met

The Michael C. Rockefeller Wing at The Met

The Met's collection of art of the peoples of sub-Saharan Africa, the Pacific Islands, and North, Central, and South America comprises more than eleven thousand works of art of varied materials and types, representing diverse cultural traditions from as early as 3000 B.C.E. to the present.