Jade Mask

Masks fashioned from single pieces of precious jade are among the most striking sculptural genres of Olmec art. The jade of this particular example is opaque and lightly colored, with red surface staining on the proper right side of the face. The opaque and light color is probably patination from long burial. Although some Olmec jade masks may have been worn (see PC.B.020) (Benson 1963:7, no. 32; Bliss 1947:20, 97, no. 92, 1957:247, no. 87, pl. LV; Coe 1965b:fig. 24; González Calderón 1991:pl. 375; Peabody Museum 1940:no. 167a; Taube 2004:145–146, pl. 29), many lack eye perforations or are of insufficient size to cover a face. On this piece, PC.B.127, both these traits hold true. It is nonetheless carved like an actual mask, with the back deeply hollowed out. The principal means of suspension was provided by a central biconically drilled hole that penetrates the flat upper rim of the mask. Two more biconally drilled holes pass laterally from below the ears into the interior sides of the mask.

The serene face of this mask is beautifully carved, with subtle, well-rounded dimensions. When viewed face on, it is evident that the lower cheeks are slightly broader than the cranium. In addition, the lower section of the object includes a small part of the upper neck, a trait rarely found in Olmec masks. The full and strongly defined eyelids are accentuated by the deep carving in the eye socket region above the nose. The eyes are almost sinuous in outline, with a downward dip toward the inner corners and a corresponding upward flick on the outer edges. Solid-core drilling in the inner corners of the eyes, the nostrils, the middle of the upper lip, and the corners of the mouth lends a crisp quality to the carving, as does the fine line incision around the edges of the upper eyelids, lower lip, and ears. The use of hollow-core drills to delineate the pupils is highly unusual in Olmec lapidary art and may be a subsequent “improvement” by later people. The later Maya commonly re-carved Olmec heirloom objects (see PC.B.538). Although this additional carving is usually limited to inscriptions, Peter David Joralemon (personal communication, 1987) has pointed out a British Museum example where the Maya re-carved the eyes of an Olmec pectoral, carving pupils into the heavy lower lids below the original slitted eyes and creating a face more consistent with Maya canons of beauty (see Schele and Miller 1986:pl. 31).

Although not an actual mask, the function of this piece and similar small Olmec masks remains to be determined. It is quite possible that these pieces were costume ornaments, such as pectorals or beltpieces. It is also conceivable, however, that they served as masks for personified sacred bundles, which would contain the remains of honored ancestors or images of gods and other esteemed objects. The well-known later stone masks of Classic Teotihuacan—which also lack pierced eyes—have been similarly considered masks for funerary bundles (Easby and Scott 1970:148). A ceramic sculpture from Teotihuacan portrays such a bundle with a detachable mask. The Teotihuacan masks are frequently supplied with drilled holes on the sides and occasionally at the top (Berrin and Pasztory 1993:no. 60). As with PC.B.127, these probably served to bind the mask to an inert object, such as a wooden armature or bundle. Moreover, like PC.B.127, Teotihuacan stone masks tend to be squared off at the top, possibly to accommodate a capping headdress (Easby and Scott 1970:148). Although masked bundles remain undocumented for the Olmec, the limbless wooden sculptures from El Manatí, Veracruz, closely resemble bundled figures supplied with masks (see Ortíz and Rodríguez 1994).

An Exhibition of Pre-Columbian Art, Fogg Art Museum, Cambridge, Massachusetts, January–March 1940

Ancient American Art, Santa Barbara Museum of Art, Santa Barbara, California, April–June 1942, M. H. De Young Memorial Museum, San Francisco, California, July–August 1942, Portland Museum of Art, Portland, Oregon, September–October 1942

Indigenous Art of the Americas, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 1947–1962

Alter Ego (Masks: Their Art and Use), Cooper Union Museum for the Arts of Decoration, New York, New York, 1951

Carved in Stone: Hardstone Objects from the Collection of Mildred and Robert Woods Bliss, Dumbarton Oaks, Washington, D.C., July 2010–January 2011