A cacique ('chieftain') figure, or pendant, with a flamboyant headdress, made by the Tairona people of the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta in northern Colombia. Part of a group of Pre-Columbian pieces admired for their commanding presence, they are among the most refined gold castings of the era. Formed in tumbaga through a lost-wax technique, each figure is hollow with suspension loops at the back. Its surface is enriched with striking detail. Two figures from the group represent caciques, with this one being fully human and the other bearing the head of a bat or crocodile. The wearer of such an elaborate object would have been a powerful figure within the Tairona community.