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Harpy eagle effigy pendant
Harpy eagle effigy pendant

Harpy eagle effigy pendant

1150–550 B.C.
Object PlaceTabasco or Veracruz, Mexico
Medium/TechniqueBlue-green jadeite
Dimensions9.4 x 7.1 x 0.4 cm (3 11/16 x 2 13/16 x 3/16 in.)
Credit LineGift of Lavinia De Nood
Accession number1982.763
On View
On view
ClassificationsJewelry / Adornment
Collections
Description
The hawk likely represents the animal spirit companion of an Olmec religious practitioner or ruler.
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.