Description:

Pre-Columbian, Mexico, Guerrero, Mezcala culture (Balsas culture), ca. 700 to 200 BCE. Millennia before modern artists reduced human form to its geometric basics, the Mezcala of Guerrero, coastal southwestern Mexico, were doing the same in heavy green stone. This is a cut stone mask that would have been carved using string cutting and surface abrading using sandstone to make it smoother. The features are subtle and give an almost playful expression with a quirked mouth. Greenstone was more valuable than gold in Mesoamerica, and this would have been a valuable item, perhaps buried with its owner, an important person, to mark their passing and give them identity in the grave. Outside the grave, the dead were sometimes represented in art merely by a mask, or a mask set upon a small pyramid. Masks from this place and period are on display in many museums, including the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, the Museo de America in Madrid, and the University of Pennsylvania Museum. Size: 6.25" W x 6.75" H (15.9 cm x 17.1 cm)

Provenance: Ex-Peter Arnovick Collection, San Francisco, CA

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#116979

  • Condition: Surface wear, but features are clear.

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December 1, 2016 7:00 AM MST
Louisville, CO, US

Artemis Fine Arts

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