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Source Description
When Christopher Columbus arrived in present-day Panama and Costa Rica, he was greeted by warriors and men of high status wearing hammered gold discs, which were stitched to armbands or worn as pendants on the chest (pectorals).These gold disks demonstrate one of the forms that could be produced by hammering. Gold was worked using a variety of techniques, including hammering and mechanical joining. Because the metal is soft and malleable, hammered gold was generally quite pure. Stone anvils and tools were used to hammer gold from ingots. Shapes were cut using stone or copper chisels.
Scholar Source Context
Document identity
localId
613
label
Pectoral Ornament with Dotted Decoration
core
obj
dtoType
object
citationUrl
pageCount
2
Source metadata
id
613
sourceUrl
contentType
object
stage
normalized
title
Pectoral Ornament with Dotted Decoration
description
When Christopher Columbus arrived in present-day Panama and Costa Rica, he was greeted by warriors and men of high status wearing hammered gold discs, which were stitched to armbands or worn as pendants on the chest (pectorals).These gold disks demonstrate one of the forms that could be produced by hammering. Gold was worked using a variety of techniques, including hammering and mechanical joining. Because the metal is soft and malleable, hammered gold was generally quite pure. Stone anvils and tools were used to hammer gold from ingots. Shapes were cut using stone or copper chisels.
provenance
Tiffany & Co., New York; Henry Walters, Baltimore, 1911, by purchase; Walters Art Museum, 1931, by bequest.
date
700-1520
citationUrl
rightsUri
CC0
language
en
genreSpecific
ornaments
pectorals
imageCount
2
pageCount
2
source
import
dimensionsRaw
Diam: 4 3/16 in. (10.7 cm)
Source extras
cul
Chiriqui
med
gold or gold alloy
creator_ids
4145
15521
collection_ids
AME
exhibition_ids
3381
Page inventory
seq
1
type
photo
mediaId
3b641ff556769465
hasOcr
no
hasDescription
no
seq
2
type
photo
mediaId
9e75bf0f320d4ee1
hasOcr
no
hasDescription
no