The mythology of the Talamancan Indians of Costa Rica includes a creator god, Sibu, who tangles with a double-whiskered serpent in the process of creating the sky. Whiskered serpents are a common image in the ceramics excavated at Sitio Conte in central Panama. In Coclé iconography, the serpent (often identified as a boa constrictor) takes on features of other animals, such as an iguana. These hybrid supernatural creatures are occasionally depicted with a triangular-shaped head, a pair of long, curved whiskers, and prominent circular eyes.
This disk—perhaps a breastplate given the perforations at the top that would allow for suspension—shows a whiskered, creature with a triangular head. There is no torso per se, only a pair of arms and legs emanating from the head. The arms terminate in saurian hands or claws, as do the toes. Coclé representations of anthropomorphic figures usually include bicephalic belts; because this figure has no waist, the belt is shown below. The fringe on the belt is a conventionalization of crocodile scales, and the small animals on its extremes can be identified as seahorses. Although each component of this composite creature may have had meaning, the symbolism of this representation is lost to us today.
This object, made out of a rich gold alloy, was made by alternately hammering and annealing the metal until it became a fine sheet. The decoration was produced by a repoussé technique, pushing the metal through from behind against a soft surface, and lines were scored in turn on the front to outline the designs.
Bibliography
Benson, Elizabeth P. 1963 Handbook of the Robert Woods Bliss Collection of Pre-Columbian Art. Dumbarton Oaks, Trustees for Harvard University, Washington, D.C., p. 52, cat. 299.
Bliss, Robert Woods 1957 Pre-Columbian Art: The Robert Woods Bliss Collection. Text and Critical Analyses by S. K. Lothrop, Joy Mahler and William F. Foshag. Phaidon, New York. p. 267-268, cat. 263, pl. CVIII.
Bliss, Robert Woods 1959 Pre-Columbian Art: The Robert Woods Bliss Collection. 2nd ed. Text and Critical Analyses by S. K. Lothrop, Joy Mahler and William F. Foshag. Phaidon, London. p. 275-276, cat. 263, pl. CVIII.
Bühl, Gudrun (ED.) 2008 Dumbarton Oaks: The Collections. Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection, Washington, D.C., p. 246-7.
Dockstader, Frederick J. 1961 Before and after Columbus. Art in America 49 (3). p. 31.
Lothrop, Samuel K. 1956 Jewelry from the Panama Canal Zone. Archaeology 9 (1):34-40. p. 34-40, fig. 2.
Exhibition History
"Indigenous Art of the Americas", National Gallery of Art, Washington DC, June 1953 to July 1962.
Acquisition History
Purchased from Earl Stendahl, Los Angeles (dealer), by Robert Woods Bliss, April 29,1953.
Robert Woods Bliss Collection of Pre-Columbian Art, Washington, DC, 1953-1962.
Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection, Pre-Columbian Collection, Washington, DC.
