Maya, Mexico
550 to 950 AD, Classic period
Jade
Height 1 1/8 inches (2.9 cm), Width 3/4 inch (1.9 cm)
12.34 grams
Provenance: Zomah Charlot, Honolulu, Hawaii
The carving is worked from a single piece of mottled green jade, following the natural irregular outline of the stone, which comes to a point at the upper edge. A face is carved into the lower portion, with a horizontal brow line, eyes, a nose, and a mouth rendered in shallow relief. A thin blue green vein crosses the stone horizontally near the center of the face, and the surface retains a smooth polished finish.
The piece was formerly in the collection of Zomah Charlot of Honolulu, Hawaii, wife of the muralist Jean Charlot, who worked in Mexico in the 1920s before the couple settled in Honolulu. Maya carvers worked jade without metal tools, using abrasives and drills of harder stone, so the shallow relief and the polish were achieved entirely by grinding. Jade held greater value than gold in Maya society and was reserved for elite use, worn as personal ornament and placed with the dead.
We ship free anywhere in the world, fully insured, packed by hand.
Maya, Mexico
550 to 950 AD, Classic period
Jade
Height 1 1/8 inches (2.9 cm), Width 3/4 inch (1.9 cm)
12.34 grams
Provenance: Zomah Charlot, Honolulu, Hawaii
The carving is worked from a single piece of mottled green jade, following the natural irregular outline of the stone, which comes to a point at the upper edge. A face is carved into the lower portion, with a horizontal brow line, eyes, a nose, and a mouth rendered in shallow relief. A thin blue green vein crosses the stone horizontally near the center of the face, and the surface retains a smooth polished finish.
The piece was formerly in the collection of Zomah Charlot of Honolulu, Hawaii, wife of the muralist Jean Charlot, who worked in Mexico in the 1920s before the couple settled in Honolulu. Maya carvers worked jade without metal tools, using abrasives and drills of harder stone, so the shallow relief and the polish were achieved entirely by grinding. Jade held greater value than gold in Maya society and was reserved for elite use, worn as personal ornament and placed with the dead.
We ship free anywhere in the world, fully insured, packed by hand.
