Pendant of Jaguar with Two Double-Headed Snakes

Pendants were worn by men around the neck on ceremonial occasions. Columbus noted that the inhabitants of Panama who came to greet him wore gold pendants. This piece could have been created in Columbus's time or during the previous 600 years.

This figure represents a jaguar, with which a warrior wanted to associate. Two animals are frequently combined, creating a mythic creature with composite attributes, and animals may have two heads. This jaguar holds one double-headed snake in his forepaws and mouth, and another in his hind paws. Loops for suspension are under the forepaws.

Provenance

Provenance (from the French provenir, 'to come from/forth') is the chronology of the ownership, custody, or location of a historical object.

[Found at a graveyard between Divalá (a village on the outskirts of settled Panama, thirty miles west of David in the province of Chiriqui) and Costa Rica, Spring 1909]; Tiffany & Co. New York, 1910, by purchase [from "Indians," see December 29, 1910 correspondance from Tiffany & Co. to Henry Walters]; Henry Walters, Baltimore, 1911, by purchase; Walters Art Museum, 1931, by bequest.