Teotihuacan culture, Mexico
AD 200 to 750
Green stone
Height 5 7/8” (14.92cm); width 5 3/8” (13.625 cm)
Provenance: Private Southern California collection
Teotihuacan, located approximately 50 kilometers northeast of Mexico City, was among the largest and most systematically planned cities in the ancient world, estimated to have held a population of over 125,000 at its peak around AD 600. The city's ceremonial core, organized along the Avenue of the Dead and anchored by the Pyramids of the Sun and Moon, produced a lapidary tradition that was collected and venerated by later Mesoamerican cultures, including the Aztecs, who deposited Teotihuacan stone masks as offerings at the Templo Mayor centuries after the city's decline. Stone masks represent the highest achievement of Teotihuacan sculptural production and are among the most studied objects in Mesoamerican art history.
This mask is carved from a green stone related to serpentine, traditionally quarried by Teotihuacan artisans from deposits in the neighboring Puebla region. The facial features follow the classical Teotihuacan canon: a broad forehead, horizontal brow line, wide set ovoid eyes, fleshy modeled lips parted as if in speech, and large rectangular ears with pierced lobes. Recent scholarship has moved away from the long held funerary interpretation of these masks, as none have been recovered from documented burial contexts at the site. Current studies suggest they functioned as centerpieces of perishable shrine constructions, attached to wooden armatures representing deities in transformation, supported by microscopic traces of fabric, feathers, and wood found in soil surrounding masks excavated in situ. Old erosion at one side of bottom of mask consistent with age.
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Teotihuacan culture, Mexico
AD 200 to 750
Green stone
Height 5 7/8” (14.92cm); width 5 3/8” (13.625 cm)
Provenance: Private Southern California collection
Teotihuacan, located approximately 50 kilometers northeast of Mexico City, was among the largest and most systematically planned cities in the ancient world, estimated to have held a population of over 125,000 at its peak around AD 600. The city's ceremonial core, organized along the Avenue of the Dead and anchored by the Pyramids of the Sun and Moon, produced a lapidary tradition that was collected and venerated by later Mesoamerican cultures, including the Aztecs, who deposited Teotihuacan stone masks as offerings at the Templo Mayor centuries after the city's decline. Stone masks represent the highest achievement of Teotihuacan sculptural production and are among the most studied objects in Mesoamerican art history.
This mask is carved from a green stone related to serpentine, traditionally quarried by Teotihuacan artisans from deposits in the neighboring Puebla region. The facial features follow the classical Teotihuacan canon: a broad forehead, horizontal brow line, wide set ovoid eyes, fleshy modeled lips parted as if in speech, and large rectangular ears with pierced lobes. Recent scholarship has moved away from the long held funerary interpretation of these masks, as none have been recovered from documented burial contexts at the site. Current studies suggest they functioned as centerpieces of perishable shrine constructions, attached to wooden armatures representing deities in transformation, supported by microscopic traces of fabric, feathers, and wood found in soil surrounding masks excavated in situ. Old erosion at one side of bottom of mask consistent with age.
We ship free anywhere in the world, fully insured, packed by hand.
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