Staff Head(?) (c. 400–700): Art, History and Details

Staff Head(?) (c. 400–700) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection.

The work and its context

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

The two-headed beast that crouches on the top of this object-perhaps a staff finial (head)-holds a human head or perhaps a mask between its paws. The silken surface and simple, elegant design identify the finial as of the International style, so-called because it crossed ancient boundaries and is found in Colombia as well as Costa Rica and Panama.

Object facts

• Title: Staff Head(?)
• Date: c. 400–700
• Culture: Colombia or Panama, International style, 5th-8th Century
• Type: Metalwork
• Technique: cast gold
• Dimensions: Overall: 8.3 x 7.2 x 2.4 cm (3 1/4 x 2 13/16 x 15/16 in.)
• Collection: AA - Intermediate Region
• Department: Art of the Americas
• Accession number: 1944.319

Collection credit

Purchase from the J. H. Wade Fund

Further reading listed by the museum

• Foote, Helen S. "A Gold Staff Head." The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art. Cleveland, Ohio: Cleveland Museum of Art, March 1945.
• The Cleveland Museum of Art. The Cleveland Museum of Art Handbook. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1958.
• The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1966. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1966.

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.