Unknown artist, Necklace of Nueva Cadiz Beads, 1500-1550. Nueva Cadiz glass beads and seed beads; 34 in. Gift of the Collection of Frederick and Jan Mayer, 2013.329.

length: 34 in, 86.3600 cm

Mayer Center, Latin American Art

Latin American Art

This object is currently on view

Some of the earliest glass beads used in the Spanish Americas, and certainly the most prized, were Nueva Cádiz beads, so named by modern archaeologists for the site in Venezuela where many were found. Here the long Nueva Cádiz Twisted and Nueva Cádiz Plain turquoise-over-white beads are separated by small green-glass seed beads, one of the most common types of beads.
--Julie Wilson Frick, 2017

Gifted 25 November 2013 by Frederick and Jan Mayer of Denver, CO, to the Denver Art Museum. Provenance research is on-going at the Denver Art Museum. Please e-mail provenance@denverartmuseum.org, if you have questions, or if you have additional information to share with us.