Description:

Pre-Columbian, Colombia, Tairona, ca. 1000 to 1300 CE. This neckace will certainly get you noticed - truly a stunning piece of wearable art comprised of hand cut, hand polished, and hand drilled translucent quartz crystal beads, 16 of a barrel shape and 30 of a disc shape, as well as 14 rounded 18K gold beads - all arranged in a balanced, symmetrical design with an incredibly large, heavy 18K gold bat wing pendant. Size: 20" L (50.8 cm); central bat wing pendant measures 5.875" L (14.9 cm)

Bats in the Pre-Columbian world were associated with the underworld and death. Hence, it is should come as no surprise that bat-wing pendants served as grave goods and are very common in the Tairona region as funerary offerings. Lacking written sources, we have to guess at their meaning, but it is generally accepted that they believed in a liminal state between life and death that could be accessed by transformational beings including shamans with zoomorphic features including those belonging to bats.

Provenance: private New York, New York, USA collection;ex Jerrie Cobb Foundation; purportedly ex-Sotheby's New York, tag now gone

All items legal to buy/sell under U.S. Statute covering cultural patrimony Code 2600, CHAPTER 14, and are guaranteed to be as described or your money back.

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#130845

  • Condition: Small chips and fissures to about three quartz crystal beads. Only minor wear to gold nose ring pendant. Strung in modern times with a modern closure. Wearable.

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February 15, 2018 8:00 AM MST
Louisville, CO, US

Artemis Fine Arts

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$0 $299 $25
$300 $999 $50
$1,000 $1,999 $100
$2,000 $4,999 $250
$5,000 $9,999 $500
$10,000 $19,999 $1,000
$20,000 $49,999 $2,000
$50,000 $99,999 $5,000
$100,000 $199,999 $10,000
$200,000 + $25,000