Staff Head (400–1000 CE): Art, History and Details

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: 6.7 x 3 x 8.2 cm (2 5/8 x 1 3/16 x 3 1/4 in.)
• Collection: AA - Intermediate Region
• Department: Art of the Americas
• Accession number: 1954.594

Collection credit

John L. Severance Fund

Further reading listed by the museum

• The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1966. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1966.
• The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1969. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1969.
• The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1978. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1978.

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.