Bird Pendant
10th-8th century BCE
Description
This pendant is in the form of a stylized rooster seated frontally. The rooster has a long, downward-curving beak (here with a faint central line delineating the upper and lower sections), large raised almond-shaped eyes with segments showing eyelid divisions on either side of its head, and a comb with three tall, widely spaced points on the top of its head. It has a long neck, decorated by three raised bands encircling the neck at the midpoint. There is a large vertical loop connecting the rooster’s neck and shoulders. Its simple body is long, and it has clearly formed legs in the front, as well as bands across its breast at the lower point of the loop (the bands in this case coincide with the top and bottom of the suspension loop). The long body and tail feathers have simple molded decoration on the sides and the end. There are three raised bands at the end of the body before the tail. There is a long, shallow concavity on the underside.
Dimensions
4.1 x 4.4 x 1.2 cm (1 5/8 x 1 3/4 x 1/2 in.)
Provenance
Louise M. and George E. Bates, Camden, ME (by 1971-1992), gift; to the Harvard University Art Museums, 1992.
Related Artworks
View More
Gold sheet
6th century BCESilver
3rd century BCERomanLeaded bronze
2nd-3rd century CERomanGold
2nd century BCEGreekElectrotype of gold original; intaglio
19th-20th centuryMycenaeanCopper alloy
8th-7th century BCEItalicJet
2nd-1st century BCESilver gilt
18th-19th centuryRussianCopper alloy
8th-6th century BCEGreekCopper alloy
8th century BCEItalicCopper alloy
7th-6th century BCEItalicGlass
2nd-1st century BCE