A PRE COLUMBIAN CARVED EMERALD AMULET OF A HARE, LATE CLASSIC OR MUISCA, 550-950 AD

拍品描述

A PRE-COLUMBIAN CARVED EMERALD AMULET OF A HARE, LATE CLASSIC OR MUISCA, 550-950 AD Carved in the round from a single crystal of translucent green emerald, the amulet takes the form of a crouching hare, the body compact and the limbs drawn beneath the belly in a resting posture. The head is turned forward, the muzzle rounded and slightly protruding, with the eye indicated by a shallow depression and the long ears laid back along the curve of the spine. The flanks are smoothed to follow the natural contours of the crystal, and a pierced perforation at the base allows the piece to be suspended or strung. The stone retains its rough internal inclusions and fissures, visible through the translucent body, and the surface shows the soft polish characteristic of hand-abraded lapidary work. The choice of the hare as subject is significant within the fauna of Pre-Columbian amuletic carving. Small mammals appear across the miniature lapidary traditions of the northern Andes and Mesoamerica as protective figures, associated variously with fertility, alertness, and the lunar cycle. The crouched posture, ears folded back and body drawn into a self-contained mass, is the standard convention for animal amulets worked in hard stone, where the form is dictated as much by the shape of the raw crystal as by the animal being represented. The material itself carries the primary weight of the object. Emerald of this clarity and colour derives from the Andean deposits of what is now Colombia, principally the mines of the Eastern Cordillera such as Chivor and Muzo, which were exploited by the Muisca and their predecessors long before Spanish contact. Emerald was among the most valued substances in the ritual economy of the region, offered in votive deposits, worked into pectorals and pendants, and traded across considerable distances into the wider Mesoamerican and Central American sphere. The carving of a single crystal into a fully three-dimensional zoomorphic form, rather than reserving it as a bead or inlay, represents the highest lapidary use of the material, since the sculptor must accept the losses imposed by the crystal's cleavage and inclusions in exchange for a devotional or personal object of concentrated value. Worked with abrasive sand and drilled with the simple bow-drill technology available to the Andean lapidary, an object of this scale would have required patient and skilled reduction of an already-precious rough. The suspension hole indicates that it was intended to be worn, either as a personal amulet or as part of a composite ornament, and its small size places it among the intimate ritual objects rather than the larger votive pieces recovered from cache deposits. This amulet exemplifies the convergence of material value and zoomorphic amuletic form that defines the finest Pre-Columbian emerald carving of the northern Andes. The retention of the raw crystal's translucency, the economy of the carved detail, and the small scale suited to personal wear together represent a tradition in which the intrinsic sanctity of the stone was as important as the figure released from it. Dimensions: Length: 2cm

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