Finial with bird-helmeted figure

1000–1400

Gold

5.1 × 5.5 × 2.2 cm (2 × 2 3/16 × 7/8 in.)

Gift of Thomas T. Solley, B.A. 1950

2002.15.5

Geography:

Colombia

Status:

By appointment, Wurtele Study Center

Culture:

Colombia, Tairona

Classification:

Jewelry

Provenance:

Andre Emmerich, to 1976; Thomas T. Solley (1924–2006), Bloomington, Ind., 1976–2002; Yale University Art Gallery, New Haven, Conn.

Bibliography:

“Acquisitions 2002,” Yale University Art Gallery Bulletin (2003): 131.

André Emmerich, Sweat of the Sun and Tears of the Moon: Gold and Silver in Pre-Columbian Art (Seattle: University of Washington Press, 1965).

Clemencia Plazas de Nieto and Ana María Falchetti de Sáenz, El Dorado Colombian Gold: A Selection of Ancient Gold Objects from the Museo del Oro, Bogotá, Colombia, exh. cat. (Sydney: Australian Art Exhibitions Corp, 1978).

Heather Lechtman, Pre-Columbian Metallurgy of South America (Washington, D.C.: Dumbarton Oaks, 1979), pgs. 1–40.

Peter T. Furst, Sweat of the Sun, Tears of the Moon: Gold and Emerald Treasures of Colombia, exh. cat. (Los Angeles: National History Museum Alliance of Los Angeles County, 1981).

George A. Kubler, The Art and Architecture of Ancient America, 3d ed. (New York: Penguin Books, 1984).

Julie Jones, The Art of Precolumbian Gold: The Jan Mitchell Collection, exh. cat. (Boston: Little, Brown, and Company, 1985), 170–1, no. 44, ill.

Rebecca Stone-Miller, Art of the Andes: From Chavin to Inca (London: Thames and Hudson, 1995), for general information about gold work in the Northern Andes.

Note: This electronic record was created from historic documentation that does not necessarily reflect the Yale University Art Gallery’s complete or current knowledge about the object. Review and updating of such records is ongoing.