Pre-Columbian, Panama, Chiriqui culture, ca. 500 to 1200 CE. An incredible piece of blue-green jade fashioned from an axe/celt shape into a more abstract, avian form pendant. Drilled holes near one end, combined with a beak-like shape that has been ground so thin as to be almost translucent, give it the appearance of a raptor soaring through the air, eye open, beak forward, its feathers smoothed flat by the wind. Twin incised bands behind the "eye" perforation and roughly one third from the other end of the body form the rest of the decoration on the piece. The perforations suggest that the piece was made to be worn as a pendant. Size: 1" W x 6.55" H (2.5 cm x 16.6 cm); 7.5" H (19 cm) on included custom stand.

Research in the late 1990s and early 2000s pinpointed the source of "Olmec blue" jadeite at being in the lowland Motagua River near the modern day border of Guatemala and Honduras; stone from this source was carved and traded widely throughout early Mesoamerica. The value of jade for ancient people lay in its symbolic power: perhaps its color was associated with water and vegetation; later, the Maya would place jade beads in the mouths of the dead. Many scholars have argued that the demand for jadeite contributed to the rise of long distance trading networks and to the rise of urban centers in ancient Mesoamerica. This would have been an exceedingly valuable and rare piece of ceremonial art.

Provenance: ex-private J. Leff collection, Uniontown, Pennsylvania, USA. Several items from Mr. Leff's collection have been exhibited at the Carnegie Museum of Art and the Frick Art Museum, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA.

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#131993

Very light surface wear commensurate with age. Excellent condition.