Staff Head (400–1000 CE): Art, History and Details
Staff Head at the Cleveland Museum of Art: 400–1000 CE, cast gold. Explore the work's context, creator attribution and collection history.
Staff Head (400–1000 CE) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection.
The work and its context
The museum's open-access catalogue describes the work:
These finials probably fit over the ends of wooden staffs, emblems of rank. Unique to the Sinú area are finials with an image, often a bird, at a right angle to the base. This orientation suggests that the finials served as the finger grips of ceremonial spear throwers.
Object facts
- Title: Staff Head
- Date: 400–1000 CE
- Culture: Colombia, Sinú style
- Type: Metalwork
- Technique: cast gold
- Dimensions: Overall: 7.5 x 3 x 7.5 cm (2 15/16 x 1 3/16 x 2 15/16 in.)
- Collection: AA - Intermediate Region
- Department: Art of the Americas
- Accession number: 1947.25
Collection credit
In memory of Mr. and Mrs. Henry Humphreys, gift of their daughter Helen
Further reading listed by the museum
- The Cleveland Museum of Art. The Cleveland Museum of Art Handbook. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1958.
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.
Sources
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