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Pre-Columbian, Costa Rica, Guanacaste-Nicoya, ca. 250 to 800 CE. Finely carved and string cut from jade of rich verdant hues, a lovely pair of axe god celts, each one presenting both avian and anthropomorphic features - perhaps representing a shaman undergoing transformation - their celt-shaped bodies delineated with joined hands or wings across their abdomens - their faces with stylized eyes (or the suggestions of them) and triangular beaks or noses, topped by crest feathers or feathered headdresses. Indeed the attention to detail is impressive despite the abstract nature of representation. A superb example of ancient Costa Rican jadework, biconically drilled behind the neck for suspension. Size of largest: 0.625" W x 3.1" H (1.6 cm x 7.9 cm)

The value of jade in the Pre-Columbian world lay in its symbolic power; scholars believe its color was associated with water and vegetation. Costa Rica, along with Mesoamerica, is one of the two regions where jade was extensively carved in the Pre-Columbian world. The earliest example of worked jade, a pendant excavated from a burial site on the Nicoya Peninsula, dated to the mid-first millennium BCE. It appears that jade continued to be carved into personal ornaments, usually depicting anthropomorphic deities or animals such as birds, monkeys, crocodiles, serpents, or frogs, until approximately 700 CE when gold became the favored material to fashion such ornaments.

Provenance: ex Craig Hendrix collection, South Carolina, USA; ex Charles Craig Jr. collection, Costa Rica, acquired in the 1960s and 1970s

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#154113

Both items have minor abrasions to bodies and heads, with light encrustations within suspension holes, otherwise intact and excellent. Great surface textures and nice remains of detailing throughout.