Cleveland Museum of Art

Pectoral (Chest Ornament)

Date

1–800 CE

Medium

gold, hammered

Culture

Isthmian Region (Colombia), Calima, Yotoco period

Department

Art of the Americas

Institution

Cleveland Museum of Art

Bilobed pectorals are some of the most flamboyant objects created by artists in Colombia’s Calima region. Chiefs apparently wore such pectorals—among the largest torso adornments ever created in the ancient Americas—with other gold objects, including bracelets, dramatic headdress adornments, and ear and nose ornaments like those shown on the pectoral itself. Thus, they armored themselves in gold, which likely had complex symbolism; for instance, it may have been associated with the sun and thereby with nourishing cosmic energies and positive moral behavior. Calima bilobed pectorals are among the largest torso ornaments ever made in the ancient Americas.

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