An Olmec Seated Figure...

Description

An Olmec Seated Figure
Gulf Coast, Mexico, c. 1200-400 BC

A seated male with a dense, muscular body, actually kneeling heavily on his lower legs, hands resting on his knees. He wears a belt with a rectangular apron falling down front between his legs. His head has classic Olmec features including a mostly shaved head with a pear-shaped lock of hair pressed onto forehead, slit eyes, and his mouth with a jaguar's upper lip raised to show fangs. The underside of the upper lip, nostrils, corners of the eyes and mouth, and armpits also drilled for inlay. The earlobes pierced. The whole expertly carved from black jade (Chloramelonite) with a few light gray veins, having a smooth, satiny finish. In excellent condition.

Note: Later Mesoamerican cultures revered works of art created by the Olmec. Many Classic Maya rulers were buried with Olmec figurines or pendants passed down through many generations. Maya artists even inscribed several objects of Olmec origin with hieroglyphic inscriptions and images of early rulers. Costa Rican peoples in the first millennium A.D. imported Olmec works and Maya-inscribed Olmec objects for use in ritual regalia. Recently, archaeologists uncovered an offering at the Aztec Templo Mayor in Tenochtitlan in which the Aztecs deposited an Olmec mask made 2,000 years prior.

Height: 5 ½ inches

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