The mid-Cauca region was inhabited for two thousand years before the Conquest by farmers, gold and salt miners, potters and goldsmiths. The goldwork of the Early Period (500 B.C. to 600 A.D.) consists of iconic figures of leaders, both men and women, as symbols of identity. The colors and shine, and the pumpkin, marrow, gourd and female shapes, all referred to fertility. One notable object is a poporo, or lime container, in the shape of a high-ranking woman in a ritual position.

Major changes occurred in the Late Period (800 to 1600 A.D.), when there was great cultural diversity and an increase in the population. The body was painted, bead ligatures were tied to the limbs, and ornaments were inserted in the nose and under the mouth. Goldwork, in which much copper was used, and pottery became geometric and schematic. Chieftains looked like jaguar-men, frog-men and lizard-men, with their ornaments and paint. Around 1540, Europeans classified the indigenous groups in 'provinces', based on their different customs and languages: Caramanta, Anserma, Arma, Picara, Carrapa, Quimbaya, Quindo, and others. Most of these were wiped out in the Conquest.

Quimbaya Figures with beaten gold ear and nose rings

Quimbaya Zoomorphic
Zoomorphic design depicting an animalistic shape or design

Columbian Gold Museum

Columbian Gold Museum

Dumbarton Oaks Collection

Quimbaya Animals
Other animal designs depicting specific animal designs or motifs

Various types of Quimbaya gold object, such as ornaments, lime-flasks, trumpets and helmets, featured human figures. Men and women are both represented, usually naked except for adornments such as necklace, earrings, diadem, nose ornaments and leg bands.

However, the composition of the alloy may not have been chosen for its technical properties alone. Depending on the purity of gold or the amount of copper added, tumbaga shows a wide range of color. The different hues obtained probably had symbolic values among the ancient cultures of present-day Colombia. Many of the coppery-colored tumbaga castings were then gilded and burnished to restore their golden appearance. This process would also have helped to avoid superficial oxidation and corrosion, enhancing their durability.

Quimbaya
Human/Shamanistic/Demonistic
Shamanistic or Demonistic designs depicting a shaman dressed in mask or costume or a demonistic figure

Here a woman and a man stand back to back on the cylindrical socket.

Quimbaya Tumbaga Figure Pendant
Dated (AD 600-1000)

Art & Antiquities Dealer [1]

click photos to enlarge

Quimbaya Tumbaga Figure Pendant Front & Back
From "Pueblo del Muerto" Armenia, Quindío (de la colección de Santiago Vélez). Alto: 4,8 cm.

Private Collection

Cauca. Ca. 350 B.C.—A.D. 100. Gold 1 5/16" h. (49.2 mm)

Private Collection

Private Collection

Cauca. Ca. 350 B.C.—A.D. 100.
Gold. 2-1/16" (26.98 mm) H.

Private Collection

Men in ancient Colombia used tweezers to remove their facial hair. This elaborate pair may have been used during rituals or ceremonies. Simpler versions of such tweezers would have been used on a daily basis. Gold objects were made throughout the ancient Americas for the exclusive use of an elite class of rulers, priests, and other noblepersons.

Walters Art Museum

Quimbaya Ornamental Objects
Ornamental designs or motifs without animal or human characteristics

The thin sheet was worked by repeated hammering combined with a process called annealing, which entails heating the metal and cooling it with water before hammering again. Tumbaga, an alloy of gold and copper, becomes brittle and hard to work if it is hammered continuously without annealing.   The embossed design on this helmet of a naked female with upraised arms parallels similar figures on gold lime-flasks.

Columbian Gold Museum

click photos to enlarge

Columbian Gold Museum

Columbian Gold Museum

Columbian Gold Museum

Columbian Gold Museum

Columbian Gold Museum

Columbian Gold Museum

Quimbaya Lime Dippers & Flasks
Lime dipper staffs depicting a shaman or zoomorphic figures and Lime Flasks in various designs
The cast gold lime-flasks made by the Quimbaya culture are wonderful examples of the astonishing virtuosity achieved by pre-Columbian artisans.

British Museum

Such flasks were used to hold lime, a substance chewed with coca leaves to release their active stimulant. This example was cast by the lost-wax method using tumbaga, an alloy of copper and less than 60% gold. The lower legs were added in a second casting. Its surface was treated by depletion gilding and then burnished. Depletion gilding consists of the removal (or depletion) of copper, and sometimes silver, from the surface of a copper-colored tumbaga object, giving the finishing appearance of a much higher purity gold.

British Museum

Columbian Gold Museum

Columbian Gold Museum

Columbian Gold Museum

Columbian Gold Museum

Columbian Gold Museum

Columbian Gold Museum

Columbian Gold Museum

Quimbaya Masks
Cast, Beaten, and Laminate gold masks

British Museum Collection

This funerary mask, cast in the classic form of the Quimbaya style, represents a person with filed teeth and wearing a nose ornament. In common with many Quimbaya figures in gold, the eyes on this mask appear closed. This may be used as a visual device to give the idea that the gaze is not directed outward to the visible world, but rather focused on the spirit realm and the sources of natural inspiration.

Private Collection

The ancient cultures of present-day Colombia used a variety of metalworking techniques, such as hammering, casting and gilding. The Quimbaya culture developed in the central valley of the Cauca River, in south-western Colombia. Quimbaya metalwork is renowned for the use of the lost-wax method of casting. In this process, a clay and charcoal core is fully modeled in the round and then covered with a layer of beeswax and the details of the finished object are added in wax. A clay mould is then applied over the wax. When heated, the wax melts and the molten metal is poured into the mould. This method was used to produce objects on a large scale.

For many Amerindian cultures the practice of enriching the surface appearance of gold alloys used for body ornament and ritual regalia was motivated by the symbolic significance of gold. Their perceptions and values differ fundamentally from much of Western thought. Many of the surviving gold artifacts reveal great sophistication in technology and design. The reflective properties of the surface of the golden object was probably more important than the purity of the gold itself. Indigenous people in present-day Colombia believe that there is a reciprocal relationship between the gold and the sun, in which energy is exchanged.