Lot 132B
Pre-Columbian, Mexico, Guerrero region, Chontal culture, ca. 500 to 200 BCE. A beautifully compact maskette hand-carved from deep green omphacite jade, its oval form shaped with softly protruding cheekbones, gently incised lips, and subtly modeled eyes. The mouth, slightly downturned at the corners, is carved with horizontal ridges that suggest clenched teeth or labret adornment. A petite perforation at the top of the verso indicates this object once hung as a pendant or was suspended as part of a ritual assemblage. Jade carving among the Chontal peoples of Guerrero represents one of the most abstract and stylized traditions in ancient Mesoamerica. Unlike the more naturalistic Olmec masks, Chontal maskettes favor geometric simplification and blunt expression, their haunting visages communicating a spiritual ambiguity that scholars associate with the sacred liminality of burial rites or shamanic transformation. Size: 2.4" W x 2.6" H (6.1 cm x 6.6 cm)
Such miniature masks were not worn on the face but were instead used as pectorals, hung on ritual bundles, or interred with the dead. Their exact meanings remain elusive, but they were undoubtedly treasured ritual items associated with ancestral veneration and cosmological belief. A fine and expressive example of Chontal jade carving in a rare and precious material.
Provenance: private Boise, Idaho, USA collection; ex-old Camarillo, California, USA collection
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#195863
- Condition: Light surface wear as shown, all commensurate with age, but, otherwise, intact and excellent with liberal remaining detail. Wearable as a pendant.
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