Museo del Jade y de la Cultura Precolombina

The Jade Room

  • Jade Scenario

    PENDANT HAND-CLAW-WIND OF OLMEC ORIGIN, THE WRIST IS DECORATED WITH INCISIONS
    METATE WITH HANGING PANEL
    PENDANT WITH FIGURE OF FRETWORK MONKEYS
    JADE PIECE WITH BIRD FIGURE CARVED IN THE UPPER PART
  • The jade elaborated in Costa Rica was carved in the central area, specifically on the plains of the Central Caribbean, but also in the Guanacaste-Nicoya sub-region. Probably by the beginnings of 500 b.C. and ending towards 500-800 a.D. Local jades were carved as pendants, many of which are hatchet-formed in the bottom part, while the upper part represents human figures, adorned as birds, mammals and reptiles.

    Social, religious and spiritual power

    HUMAN FIGURE IN POTTERY OF OLMEC ORIGIN
    FELINE FIGURE WITH BIRD ON THE BACK
    GLOBULAR VESSEL DECORATED WITH PAINT AND LINES
    MACE PLACED AT THE END OF A CLUB
  • Among the pre-Columbian social groups there is an outstanding character who exercised as spiritual and religious leader, mediator between the people and the world of spirits, known as the shaman, who had the power to heal and transform into different animal such as the jaguar for example. Shamans may have been men or women who stood out within a social group for their particular characteristics.

    Jade symbolism

    STONE SPHERE, SYMBOLIC OBJECT OF POWER
    RITUAL POST WITH SHAMAN ON IT, DESCENDING TRANSFORMED INTO JAGUAR
    ALLIGATOR-SHAPED CIRCULAR CEREMONIAL SEAT
    THREE-BASED METATE WITH PROTRUDING LONG-BEAKED BIRD HEAD
  • JADE PIECE WITH TWO BIRD HEADS
    JADE PENDANT DEPICTING A BIRD
  • Specialized artisans embodied the world of their animist beliefs, the belief that protective spirits manifested as different animals in jade pieces. Within the most used portrayals in jade carving are birds, mammals and reptiles.
    PENDANT WITH HUMAN FIGURE ON ONE END AND INTERTWINED SERPENT ON THE REST OF THE PIECE
    JADES WITH DOUBLE-HEAD BIRDS AT THE CENTER CREATING A DUALITY