Costa Rican Jade Standing Anthropomorphic Pendant with Raised ArmsPre-Columbian, Costa...
Costa Rican Jade Standing Anthropomorphic Pendant with Raised ArmsPre-Columbian, Costa Rica, ca. 500–1000 CE. A standing figure carved from mottled blue-green and cream jade, arms lifted so that the delineated fingers rest across the forehead in an arresting, rarely seen gesture. The face is worked in low relief with drilled round eyes, a broad nose and a banded mouth; a narrow belt crosses the waist, the navel is dimpled, and the toes are notched along the base. Openwork beneath the raised arms and a suspension hole drilled through the armpits allowed the plaque to hang against the chest. Jade of this hue was the highest-value substance in the Costa Rican Atlantic Watershed and Nicoya zones, and such pendants likely marked rank as much as they protected the wearer. Mounted on a custom display base. Size: 3.75" W x 1.875" H (9.5 cm W x 4.8 cm H).
Costa Rican lapidaries worked jadeite and related green stones without metal tools, sawing blanks with cord-and-sand abrasion and drilling perforations with hollow reed bits, a slow subtractive process that makes the crisp openwork under this figure's arms a genuine feat. Between roughly 300 and 700 CE the greenstone industry of the Atlantic Watershed and Greater Nicoya reached its height, producing axe-god pendants, avian celts, and standing anthropomorphs of this kind, before gold displaced jade as the prestige material after about 700 CE.
The gesture of hands raised to the head is uncommon in the corpus and has been read variously as a posture of mourning, of trance, or of supplication; no single interpretation commands consensus, and the figure is best appreciated as a compact study in frontal symmetry.
Provenance: Collection of Jimmy Belilty, Miami. Acquired from Latin American Artist Carlos Poveda, Caracas and Paris, 1980 - 1990.
SHIPPING: We coordinate worldwide shipping in-house through specialist international forwarders experienced with fine art and antiquities customs manifests. International buyers must confirm, prior to bidding, that their country's customs authority will accept the item. All duties, taxes, clearance fees, and any costs arising from customs delays, seizures, re-export, returns, or loss in transit are the buyer's sole responsibility. Artemis assumes no liability for items refused entry, detained, or lost after export. We cannot ship ancient items to their country of origin (Egyptian to Egypt, Greek to Greece, etc.).
PAYMENT EXCEPTION: For clients not previously established with Artemis, payment for all gold, precious metal, and gemstone lots must be made by bank wire transfer or certified bank check/money order, without exception.
Item #73108Intact, excellent condition.
Costa Rican Jade Standing Anthropomorphic Pendant with Raised ArmsPre-Columbian, Costa Rica, ca. 500–1000 CE. A standing figure carved from mottled blue-green and cream jade, arms lifted so that the delineated fingers rest across the forehead in an arresting, rarely seen gesture. The face is worked in low relief with drilled round eyes, a broad nose and a banded mouth; a narrow belt crosses the waist, the navel is dimpled, and the toes are notched along the base. Openwork beneath the raised arms and a suspension hole drilled through the armpits allowed the plaque to hang against the chest. Jade of this hue was the highest-value substance in the Costa Rican Atlantic Watershed and Nicoya zones, and such pendants likely marked rank as much as they protected the wearer. Mounted on a custom display base. Size: 3.75" W x 1.875" H (9.5 cm W x 4.8 cm H).
Costa Rican lapidaries worked jadeite and related green stones without metal tools, sawing blanks with cord-and-sand abrasion and drilling perforations with hollow reed bits, a slow subtractive process that makes the crisp openwork under this figure's arms a genuine feat. Between roughly 300 and 700 CE the greenstone industry of the Atlantic Watershed and Greater Nicoya reached its height, producing axe-god pendants, avian celts, and standing anthropomorphs of this kind, before gold displaced jade as the prestige material after about 700 CE.
The gesture of hands raised to the head is uncommon in the corpus and has been read variously as a posture of mourning, of trance, or of supplication; no single interpretation commands consensus, and the figure is best appreciated as a compact study in frontal symmetry.
Provenance: Collection of Jimmy Belilty, Miami. Acquired from Latin American Artist Carlos Poveda, Caracas and Paris, 1980 - 1990.
SHIPPING: We coordinate worldwide shipping in-house through specialist international forwarders experienced with fine art and antiquities customs manifests. International buyers must confirm, prior to bidding, that their country's customs authority will accept the item. All duties, taxes, clearance fees, and any costs arising from customs delays, seizures, re-export, returns, or loss in transit are the buyer's sole responsibility. Artemis assumes no liability for items refused entry, detained, or lost after export. We cannot ship ancient items to their country of origin (Egyptian to Egypt, Greek to Greece, etc.).
PAYMENT EXCEPTION: For clients not previously established with Artemis, payment for all gold, precious metal, and gemstone lots must be made by bank wire transfer or certified bank check/money order, without exception.
Item #73108Intact, excellent condition.
