Celt-Shaped Pendant (c. 300 BCE–600 CE): Art, History and Details

Celt-Shaped Pendant (c. 300 BCE–600 CE) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection.

The work and its context

The museum's open-access catalogue describes the work:

Costa Rican jade pendants may imitate the shape of axe blades (celts) used for agriculture. The pendants often take the form of "axe gods," creatures with human, bird, or animal traits. Jade carving was common in Costa Rica before ad 500, but then declined in importance. Gold eventually replaced jade as the region’s preferred luxury material.

Object facts

• Title: Celt-Shaped Pendant
• Date: c. 300 BCE–600 CE
• Culture: Costa Rica, Southern Nicoya region
• Type: Jewelry
• Technique: jadeite
• Dimensions: Overall: 15.2 x 5.4 cm (6 x 2 1/8 in.)
• Collection: AA - Intermediate Region
• Department: Art of the Americas
• Accession number: 1972.4

Collection credit

James Albert and Mary Gardiner Ford Memorial Fund

View the collection record

See the museum's photographs and full catalogue entry. Catalogue text is reproduced from the Cleveland Museum of Art's open-access data, with HTML formatting removed. This object and its supplied image are designated CC0.