Lot 22A
Pre-Columbian, Colombia, Sinu Culture, ca. 800 to 1500 CE. A rare and refined Sinu gold finial depicting a perched owl, its broad, rounded head turned sharply to the side in lifelike alertness. Cast from high-karat gold (84.1%, or approximately 20.2 karats) using the lost-wax technique, the figure was once mounted atop a staff of rank or office. Its thimble-shaped base, pierced and elliptical at the back, reveals how it may have been pinned or secured to a wooden shaft - part of the ceremonial regalia of Sinu elite. The owl, a creature associated with vigilance and the nocturnal realm, perches gracefully at the edge of the cap. Its circular eyes, pronounced hooked beak, and ridged crest remain well defined despite the passage of centuries. Traces of a braided element frame its head, an adornment that once accentuated its sacred symbolism. Size: 1.4" L x 0.9" W x 1.5" H (3.6 cm x 2.3 cm x 3.8 cm); 3" H (7.6 cm) on included custom stand; gold quality: 84.1% (about 20.2 karats); weight: 34.8 grams
The figure's smooth, luminous surface reflects the technical sophistication of Sinu metalworkers, who cast their creations with interior cores that were later removed to achieve their delicate hollowness.
Finials such as this one were used in the Caribbean Lowlands of northwestern Colombia, where gold objects served both political and spiritual roles. Spanish chronicles from the early 16th century describe "spears with tips of gold" ("dardos con hierros de oro") interred in temples and tombs, and wooden figures adorned with metal, depicting beings like those seen on staff heads. Scholars suggest that these ornate finials, and the iconography they bore, helped configure funerary and sacred spaces - transforming metal into a conduit between power, ritual, and the divine. A testament to the Sinu's mastery of form and metallurgy, this gleaming owl embodies both the authority of the living and the enduring mystery of the ancestral world.
Cf. Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1979.206.920.
Provenance: private Hukuk, Israel collection; ex-Souk Topia, Auburn, California, USA; ex-Arte Primitivo, New York, New York, USA, January 2006; ex-Laurence C. Witten II collection, Florida, USA
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#198794
- Condition: Professionally repaired with break lines and stable fissures to body with some reinforcement. Nicks and abrasions in areas, but, otherwise, very nice with liberal remaining detail and scattered patina.
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