Pendant with figure

3rd–13th century
On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in Gallery 746
This is the largest and most elaborately carved standing figure from an understudied culture that flourished in the Pacific Northwest during the first millennium. Its author depicted prominent knees, elbows, and splayed feet as well as a skirt or loincloth, similar to later braided grass skirts from the region. The figure wears a large headdress—which resembles later known headdresses with earflaps—adorned with alternating bands of sunbursts and triangles and fields of vertical incisions. Although the figure’s function is unknown, the intricate headdress and body markings suggest that it could be the portrait of a specific individual.

Artwork Details

Object Information
  • Title: Pendant with figure
  • Date: 3rd–13th century
  • Geography: Possibly made in Oregon, United States; Possibly made in Washington, United States
  • Culture: Ancestral Columbia River, Native American
  • Medium: Bone and pigment
  • Dimensions: 10 1/4 × 3 × 1/4 in. (26 × 7.6 × 0.6 cm)
  • Credit Line: The Charles and Valerie Diker Collection of Native American Art, Gift of Charles and Valerie Diker, 2021
  • Object Number: 2021.434.4
  • Curatorial Department: The American Wing

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