Diquís Double Figural Pendant

Jan Mitchell, New York, acquired by 1968

Thence by descent to the present owner

The Hermitage Museum, Leningrad, Zoloto Drevnej Ameriki [Gold of Ancient America], August 4 - October 4, 1976

The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, The Art of Precolumbian Gold: The Jan Mitchell Collection, May 9 - August 11, 1985

Hasso von Winning, Pre-Columbian Art of Mexico and Central America, New York, 1968, p. 378, fig. 568 (illustrated)

R. V. Kinzhalov and Yu. E. Berezkin, Zoloto dokolumbovoi Ameriki [or Zoloto Drevnej Ameriki]. katalog vystaki [Gold of Pre-Columbian America: Exhibition Catalogue, or Gold of Ancient America: Exhibition Catalogue], Leningrad and Moscow, 1976, n.p., cat. no. 189 (illustrated)

Julie Jones and Heidi King, The Art of Precolumbian Gold: The Jan Mitchell Collection, New York, 1985, pp. 102-103, cat. no. 9 (illustrated)

The twin male figures of musicians are cast with the rounded torsos forming a rattle with pellets encased within. One figure holds a flute to his mouth, the other holds a staff or sceptre.  Their stark and alert expressions are conveyed by their large rounded eyes and prominent mouths; each wears a knotted headband. The mythological element of the Diquís art is represented here by stylized saurian heads projecting from their knees and heads. The powerful crocodile is frequently used to imbue gold figures. The figures' paddle feet rest on the fine braided framework.

Twinned or double-figures were an important genre of goldwork from Diquís and the neighboring Sitío Conte region in Panama. Double figures are associated with music, emphasized here by the rattling sound when worn.   

For an elaborate Diquís double figure, see The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1979.206.1003.