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.
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