. Ancient Mexico and Central America. Indian art; Indian art. Birds are a common subject in Costa Rican jades. Tiie pendant at the left appears to show a long-beaked tropical bird, but it is stylized and exaggerated so that it is nearly unrecognizable. Its wings are folded to meet at the front; other features are indicated by simple straight cuts. The unusual large pendant on the right may have been thought of as a spread-winged bird, but the tri- angular face at its center is the only recognizable attribute in what is other- wise a purely abstract form. Both pendants are of a blue-green jade
. Ancient Mexico and Central America. Indian art; Indian art. Birds are a common subject in Costa Rican jades. Tiie pendant at the left appears to show a long-beaked tropical bird, but it is stylized and exaggerated so that it is nearly unrecognizable. Its wings are folded to meet at the front; other features are indicated by simple straight cuts. The unusual large pendant on the right may have been thought of as a spread-winged bird, but the tri- angular face at its center is the only recognizable attribute in what is other- wise a purely abstract form. Both pendants are of a blue-green jade with white spots, identical in most respects to the finest jade used by the Olmec. It is possible that the jade used in both regions came from the same source, but there is no knowledge of where this could have been. The workmanship is excellent, and the remarkable sur- face finish and polish of these fine jades is especially notable. Bird pendants of hlue-green jade. Ernest Erickson. Costa Rica. Width of right pendant 6 inches. Gifts of Please note that these images are extracted from scanned page images that may have been digitally enhanced for readability - coloration and appearance of these illustrations may not perfectly resemble the original American Museum of Natural History; Boltin, Lee; Meyer, Alfred P. , 1935-. New York : American Museum of Natural History
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Keywords: ., bookauthoramericanmuseumofnaturalhistory, bookcentury1900, bookp
