Tairona Gold Miniature Pendant of a Jaguar - FJ.6870a, Origin: Colombia, Circa: 10 th Century AD to 15 th Century AD, Dimensions: .625" (1.6cm) high, Collection: Pre-Columbian, Style: Tairona, Medium: Gold. At the time of the Spanish Conquest of the Americas, in the Sierra Nevada mountain chain of northern Colombia, a lively metallurgical tradition among the Chibcha-speaking Tairona. The Tairona culture began their process of consolidation as a social and political entity in the first centuries after Christ, reaching their apex of development after 1000 A.D. when dense populations were grouped together in many urban centers. Today, over two hundred Tairona sites are known, ranging from the coastal lowlands to the heights of the mountains. Settlements of varying sizes reflect a hierarchical political order; several large centers controlled numerous smaller ones, through a chiefly and priestly elite. Tairona goldwork reveals a complex iconography often combining both animal and human features. The Kogi people of the Sierra Nevadas, modern descendents of the Tairona, do not value gold, or other metal and gems for that matter, as indicators of wealth and personal prestige. For them, gold is a symbol of potential fertility belonging to all members of their society. The sun, the penultimate procreating force, transmits its power to gold, presumably endowing the metal with its yellowish hue. We can presume that the Tairona originally viewed gold much the same way, as ornaments charged with potent symbolism relating to the continuation of life. Perhaps this idea of gold as a fertile force is no better embodied than in this diminutive sculptural pendant representing a recumbent jaguar. The feline’s head is raised, as if listening to some distant rustling, while the tail curves over the back of the body. The jaguar was the penultimate creature of the Pre-Columbian zoological pantheon revered for its fierceness and associated with kings and rulers. This pendant, featuring a loop holes that double as the jaguars front paws, would have most likely been worn as a necklace imbuing the wearer with the potent energies of both the subject mater and the material.

Antiquities
Ancient Jewelry