Creative Commons License
Creative Commons License
Pectoral Ornament with Dot Decoration
(Ancient Americas )
When Christopher Columbus arrived in present-day Panama and Costa Rica, he was greeted by warriors and men of high status wearing hammered gold discs, which were stitched to armbands or worn as pendants on the chest (pectorals).
These gold disks demonstrate one of the forms that could be produced by hammering. Gold was worked using a variety of techniques, including hammering and mechanical joining. Because the metal is soft and malleable, hammered gold was generally quite pure. Stone anvils and tools were used to hammer gold from ingots. Shapes were cut using stone or copper chisels.
Provenance
Provenance (from the French provenir, 'to come from/forth') is the chronology of the ownership, custody, or location of a historical object.
Tiffany & Co., New York; Henry Walters, Baltimore, 1911, by purchase; Walters Art Museum, 1931, by bequest.
Exhibitions
| 2015 | Gold of the Ancient Americas. The Walters Art Museum, Baltimore. |
Geographies
Panama (Place of Origin)
Measurements
Diam: 4 1/2 in. (11.5 cm)
Credit Line
Acquired by Henry Walters, 1911
Location in Museum
Not on view
Accession Number
In libraries, galleries, museums, and archives, an accession number is a unique identifier assigned to each object in the collection.
In libraries, galleries, museums, and archives, an accession number is a unique identifier assigned to each object in the collection.
57.297