Advanced Search 
Harpy eagle effigy pendant
Olmec
Middle Formative period
1150–550 B.C.
Object Place: Tabasco or Veracruz, Mexico
Medium/Technique
Blue-green jadeite
Dimensions
9.4 x 7.1 x 0.4 cm (3 11/16 x 2 13/16 x 3/16 in.)
Credit Line
Gift of Lavinia De Nood
Accession Number1982.763
ClassificationsJewelry / Adornment – Pendants
The hawk likely represents the animal spirit companion of an Olmec religious practitioner or ruler.
DescriptionAvian effigy pendant in the form of a raptorial bird (perhaps a falcon) with open beak and legs folded against its chest. The pendant is slightly convex in shape, and the concave rear face is not as highly polished as is the front. Carved into the pendant's rear surface is a 0.7 cm-wide curved motif that extends from the bird's shoulder downwards to within 2 cm of its bottom edge. Two small biconically drilled holes along the upper left side allow for suspension of the pendant.
ProvenanceBy 1970, John Huston (b. 1906 - d. 1987), County Galway, Ireland [see note 1]; probably sold by Huston to John Wise, Inc., New York [see note 2]; sold by John Wise, Inc. to Lavinia De Nood, New Hampshire; 1982, year-end gift of Lavinia De Nood to the MFA. (Accession Date: January 12, 1983)
NOTES: [1] He lent this to the exhibition "Before Cortes: Sculpture of Middle America" (Metropolitan Museum of Art, September 30, 1970 - January 3, 1971), cat. no. 46. [2] Huston sold other works of Pre-Columbian art to John Wise in the mid-1970s; see, for example, Douglas C. McGill, "Pre-Columbian Works Could be Fakes," New York Times, May 20, 1987, p. C19.
NOTES: [1] He lent this to the exhibition "Before Cortes: Sculpture of Middle America" (Metropolitan Museum of Art, September 30, 1970 - January 3, 1971), cat. no. 46. [2] Huston sold other works of Pre-Columbian art to John Wise in the mid-1970s; see, for example, Douglas C. McGill, "Pre-Columbian Works Could be Fakes," New York Times, May 20, 1987, p. C19.