Crocodile Pendant
1000–1550
Maker Unknown
Art of the Americas
Crocodile Pendant, 1000–1550. Panama, Azuero Peninsula, Parita style, 11th-16th century. Cast gold, modern greenstone; overall: 6.5 x 5.5 x 4.4 cm (2 9/16 x 2 3/16 x 1 3/4 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Gift of Mr. and Mrs. James C. Gruener 1990.160 Of great importance in ancient Panama were beings that combined crocodile features, especially the mouth, with lizard traits, such as the iguana’s head crest. This example also has a back-swept nose, perhaps that of the leaf-nosed bat. The greenstone is a modern replacement for a stone or shell that once completed the crocodile’s body. The greenstone replaced a piece of carved whale bone that was once improperly paired with the pendant.
- Maker/Artist
- Maker Unknown
- Classification
- Metalwork
- Formatted Medium
- cast gold, modern greenstone
- Medium
- cast, gold, modern, greenstone
- Dimensions
- Overall: 6.5 x 5.5 x 4.4 cm (2 9/16 x 2 3/16 x 1 3/4 in.)
- Departments
- Art of the Americas
- Accession Number
- 1990.160
- Credit Line
- Gift of Mr. and Mrs. James C. Gruener
- Exhibitions
- The Gruener Collection of Pre-Columbian Art
- Rights Statement
- CC0
- Museum Location
- 233 Mesoamerican and Intermediate Region
Have a concern, a correction, or something to add?