Cleveland Museum of Art

Finial with Long-Beaked Bird

Date

400–1000

Medium

gold, cast

Culture

Isthmian Region (Colombia), Sinú (Zenú), 5th century-11th century

Department

Art of the Americas

Institution

Cleveland Museum of Art

Unique to Colombia's Sinú region are gold finials with sculptural images at right angles to thimble-like caps; the caps fit over the end of a staff, an emblem of rank that may have been held horizontally. This impressive finial features a dignified, long-beaked bird whose body contains a pellet that rattles when the finial moves. Sinú animal imagery is understudied but may relate to beliefs about the cosmos. For instance, contemporary natives attribute importance to birds because they have the capacity to move among different environments (air, land, water); they may have been regarded as mediators among levels of the cosmos. Birds, particularly water birds, may have been thought to travel between the different layers of the universe.

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