A Teotihuacan Mask...

Description

A Teotihuacan Mask
Mexico, c. 250-600 AD

Carved from green hardstone with evenly distributed speckling in darker and lighter green, the mask presents a youthful visage with a lively expression. The large eyes and mouth are deeply drilled for the insertion of shell or stone, and the face is modeled with an aquiline nose and an open mouth, as though vocalizing. The carving shows the remarkable ability of Teotihuacan artists to shape hardstone with precision and control, using techniques refined over centuries. Greenstone held special value across Mesoamerica and was closely tied to fertility, regeneration, and sacred power.

Pierced four times along the perimeter for attachment, the mask was almost certainly meant to be fixed to another support rather than worn directly on the face. The Metropolitan Museum notes that Teotihuacan stone masks of this kind were often attached to wooden armatures or mortuary bundles that have since perished, which helps explain both their weight and their frontal, idealized design. Rather than portraiture, such masks seem to have functioned as potent ritual images, giving presence to a human or divine being through the enduring medium of stone. With a custom metal stand. In very good condition; proper right ear deficient, apparently broken in antiquity lobe.

Provenance:
The Vilcek Foundation

Height: 6 ½ inches

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