Name/Title
Pendant, molded clay face with ringed eyes and open mouthEntry/Object ID
2026.13.1Description
A flat, broadly lozenge-shaped plaque, widest at the middle, with two rounded lobes projecting left and right. The front is modeled in relief as a stylized face:
Eyes: two large round sockets, each with two or three concentric rings around a narrow horizontal slit
Nose: broad and flat, running from between the eyes to two flared nostrils
Mouth: a wide open mouth set below the nose, framed by thick everted lips, with a small round hole at each corner
Side lobes: the projections at left and right are cut with five or six parallel horizontal grooves, reading as stylized ears or ear ornaments
Two holes are pierced through the top edge. A twisted brown fiber cord passes through them and is knotted into a hanging loop.
The back is flat, slightly undulating, and plain. It has the same dark finish as the front, with a mottled, granular texture and the two suspension holes at the top edge. ⚠️ No mark, signature or inscription is visible on either face.
Surface. Both faces carry a dark green-black finish with blue-green and bronze-like speckling, giving an effect like patinated metal or dark stone. ⚠️ Where the surface is chipped — on the eyelids, the nose, the corners of the mouth and the edges — a pale buff body shows underneath. So the dark finish is a layer over a lighter clay, not the color of the clay itself. ⚠️ Whether that layer is a fired glaze, a slip, or paint or wax applied after firing is not established. A cold-applied finish would be softer and might rub off on a cotton swab tested on the back; a glaze would be glassy and hard. This should be checked in hand.Item Type
PendantStyle
Pre-ColumbianContext
The face follows Taíno iconography. The Metropolitan Museum describes a Taíno pendant mask of the 13th–15th century, from the Higüey area of the Dominican Republic, as showing “a crouching figure with wide eyes and grimacing mouth,” characteristic of the zemí, a term for an immaterial spiritual force belonging to deities and ancestors rather than for an object. ⚠️ This pendant’s ringed eyes and open mouth fit that vocabulary. I am describing a resemblance in style, not a source or a specific prototype.Made/Created
Place
Country
CubaRegion
Caribbean, Central AmericaParts
Clay pendant (1)
Twisted fiber cord, knotted (1)Materials
Material
CeramicMaterial Notes
Body: clay, stated by the owner and recorded on that basis. The pale buff body is visible at the chips.
Surface: dark finish, ⚠️ type not established (glaze, slip, or paint or wax applied after firing).
Cord: twisted brown fiber, ⚠️ natural or synthetic not established.Relationships
Related Places
Place
City
HavanaCountry
CubaRegion
Caribbean, Central AmericaCreated By
María A. Cabrera ArúsCreate Date
October 5, 2026Updated By
María A. Cabrera ArúsUpdate Date
October 9, 2026
