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PC.B.551, Fat God Maskette

Fat God Maskette

 
Accession numberPC.B.551
Attribution and Date
Middle Formative, 900–300 BCE
Measurements

H. 5.4 cm; W. 5.1 cm; D. 3.5 cm; Wt. 77.86 g

Technique and Material

Jadeite

Acquisition history

Acquired by Dumbarton Oaks from Everett Rassiga, 1966

This pendant is a miniature mask of the fat god, a poorly understood being found among the Maya and other early cultures of Mesoamerica (Beyer 1930). Made of highly translucent rich blue-green jadeite, this maskette is masterfully carved and polished to mirrorlike perfection. Viewed in profile, the face appears unusually deep for the dimensions of an Olmec mask. Due to the extensively hollowed out back, however, the piece is wonderfully translucent, especially in the proper left cheek.

Although the eye orbits do not pierce the maskette, a large hole passes through the open mouth; a pair of biconically drilled holes at the crown of the head provide suspension for the pendant. The maskette has drilled nostrils, but they are relatively shallow and widely spaced, and no attempt was made at piercing the septum. Despite its highly finished nature, the face retains the remains of drill pits created during carving, including shallow pits flanking the upper bridge of the nose, the proper left side of the nose, the middle of the upper lip, the juncture of the upper lip and nose, and the corners of the mouth. But rather than suggesting an unfinished quality, these indentations provide a certain sharpness and clarity. Moreover, many of the pits are highly polished, making them facet-like sources of reflected light. The maskette bears traces of red cinnabar staining in some unpolished or more deeply carved regions. Although a finely carved piece, this maskette by no means corresponds to typical canons of Olmec beauty. The face is bulbous and fleshy, with a bald, thickly furrowed brow, massive eyebrows, and heavy, sagging cheeks; the strangely bulging lips pout almost as if to whistle. On close inspection, it can be seen that the grotesque features protrude slightly above the rear portion of the maskette, as if these constitute a mask worn by an actual person. The unusual depth of the object may be because the wearer is incorporated into the piece—that is, the ears and part of the face. A small jadeite pendant of unknown date from the Cenote of Sacrifice at Chichen Itza portrays a similar entity with heavy cheeks and a puckered mouth (Figure 33.1). Although Tatiana Proskouriakoff (1974:92) identifies the pendant as a rabbit head, both that face and PC.B.551 represent the fat god, a major anthropomorphic character of great antiquity in Mesoamerica. In addition to a hollowed back, the cenote pendant is encircled with a line, again as if portraying an individual wearing a mask.

Olmec fig. 33.1
Figure 33.1. Pendant of a head wearing the mask of the fat god, Chichen Itza, Cenote of Sacrifice (drawing by Karl A. Taube, from Proskouriakoff 1974:pl. 50.1b).

Perhaps the earliest example of this rotund being appears on an Early Formative effigy tecomate attributed to Tlatilco (Figure 33.2a). Although the upper mouth is somewhat damaged, the bald, furrowed forehead and pendulous cheeks are plainly evident. In contrast to PC.B.551, its eyes seem to be shut. A ceramic vessel from Chilpancingo, Guerrero, portrays a Middle Formative example of the same being (Figure 33.2b). Along with the bald pate and heavy cheeks, it has a pursed mouth, with the tongue protruding atop the sagging lower lip. A Middle Formative greenstone pendant seems to represent the same bald entity, which appears with shut eyes and heavy, sagging cheeks (Figure 33.2c). Although lacking the lower jaw, it has a pointed upper lip quite like the Chilpancingo example.

Olmec fig. 33.2
Figure 33.2. Representations of the fat god in Formative art: (a) vessel representing the head of the fat god, Early Formative Tlatilco (drawing by Karl A. Taube, after Feuchtwanger 1989:fig. 105); (b) face of the fat god on Middle Formative vessel, Chilpancingo (drawing by Karl A. Taube, after Martínez Donjuán 1994:fig. 9.5); (c) Middle Formative miniature mask pendant of the fat god (drawing by Karl A. Taube, after Princeton University Art Museum 1995:no. 185); (d) fat god face atop a schematic turtle, San Miguel (drawing by Karl A. Taube, after Stirling 1957:pl. 50); and (e) two images of the fat god on a stone monument, Tiltepec (drawing by Karl A. Taube, after Milbrath 1979:fig. 51).

These examples of the heavy-cheeked figure are clearly related to faces on several monuments dated by both Susan Milbrath (1979:38) and Lee Parsons (1986:18) to the Middle Formative period—that is, roughly contemporaneous with PC.B.551. A sculpture from San Miguel, in the vicinity of La Venta, depicts what looks to be nine turtles, each with the face of this personage on its carapace (Figure 33.2d). All the puffy faces appear with heavy-lidded shut eyes, recalling the eyes of the Tlatilco vessel and the Middle Formative jawless pendant (Figure 33.2c). A monument from Tiltepec, Chiapas, bears two forms of the same entity, the upper occurring in a similar turtle-shaped cartouche (Figure 33.2e). Immediately below is a larger example, complete with an upper body. Both display shut heavy-lidded eyes and pursed circular mouths, recalling the mouths of PC.B.551 and the Chilpancingo vase (Figures 33.2b–c).

Olmec fig. 33.3
Figure 33.3. Depictions of the fat god in Late Formative Maya sculpture: (a) head of the fat god, Monte Alto Monument 10 (drawing by Karl A. Taube, after Parsons 1986:fig. 123); and (b) fat god potbelly sculpture with a pursed mouth, San Juan Sacatepéquez (drawing by Karl A. Taube, after Parsons 1986:fig. 103).

This character is by no means limited to the Early and Middle Formative periods of the Olmec; it also appears among the rotund potbelly sculptures of Monte Alto (Figure 33.3a), Santa Leticia, and other sites of piedmont and highland Guatemala and El Salvador. These sculptures are typically bald-headed, with shut heavy-lidded eyes, furrowed brows, pendulous cheeks, and sometimes circular pursed mouths (Figure 33.3b). Although S. W. Miles (1965) and John Graham (1982, 1989) favor a very early, pre-Olmec dating for these sculptures, many consider them Late Formative (Demarest 1986:138–139; Miller and Taube 1993:86; Parsons 1986:39–40; Rodas 1993). In his discussion of Late Formative potbelly sculptures, Parsons (1986:41) notes the continuity of this theme in Protoclassic Veracruz, as well as in Classic-period art of Teotihuacan and the Maya. The Classic examples are frequently labeled the “fat god,” a term first coined by Hermann Beyer. As with the Formative character, the Classic entity is frequently bald, with a furrowed brow, heavy-lidded shut eyes, bulbous lips, and massive sagging cheeks (Figure 33.4). At times, this being also has a pursed mouth and sagging lower lip similar to PC.B.551 (see Weiant 1943:pl. 41, no. 5).

Olmec fig. 33.4
Figure 33.4. Images of the fat god from Classic-period Mesoamerica: (a) face of the fat god on an Early Classic vessel (drawing by Karl A. Taube, after Seler 1902–1923:5:520); (b) fat god figure in a dance position (drawing by Karl A. Taube, after Séjourné 1959:fig. 77); (c) Late Classic Maya Jaina figurine of the fat god with a dance fan (drawing by Karl A. Taube, after Piña Chán 1968:pl. 12); and (d) Late Classic Maya Jaina figurine of a woman supporting a fat god figure (drawing by Karl A. Taube, after Piña Chán 1968:pl. 13).

In his initial identification of the fat god, Beyer (1930) cites its presence at Teotihuacan, Veracruz, and the Maya region. But although clearly an important and widespread entity, the fat god and its symbolic significance remain poorly understood. According to Hasso von Winning (1987:1:145), the Classic-period fat god figures do not represent a deity but real rotund people participating in ceremonial offices. In a number of Classic Maya vessel scenes, however, a probable form of the fat god appears as a specific way, the Mayan term for a supernatural co-essence (Figure 33.5). Along with heavy pendulous cheeks and closed eyes, this figure displays a huge belly and pronounced navel, common traits of the Late Formative potbelly sculptures. In the accompanying texts, the corpulent entity is epigraphically labeled sitz’ winik, or “glutton man,” and in one case sitz’ kimi, “glutton death” (Grube 1991:226; Grube and Nahm 1994:709–710). In one instance, he wears the woven suit commonly donned by fat god figures in the northern Maya Lowlands (Figure 33.5c; see also Figure 33.4c–d). The horizontal marking of the suit in the lower abdomen area reveals the figure has a swollen belly resting atop the frontal loincloth apron (Robicsek 1978:pl. 109).

Olmec fig. 33.5
Figure 33.5. Representations of the sitz’ winik from Late Classic Maya vases: (a) glutton way lying on his back (note the extruded navel) (drawing by Karl A. Taube, after Miller and Taube 1993:87); (b) glutton way epigraphically labeled sitz’ kimi (drawing by Karl A. Taube, after Grube and Nahm 1994:fig. 49); and (c) smoking sitz’ winik wearing a full body suit commonly found among Late Classic Maya examples of the fat god (see Figure 111c–d; drawing by Karl A. Taube, after Schele 1985:fig. 3).

It has been suggested that many of the Classic fat god figures represent ritual clowns impersonating gluttony, a common target of social commentary in ritual humor of Mesoamerica and the American Southwest (Miller and Taube 1993:86). In this regard, it is noteworthy that Classic fat god figures can appear with upraised arms (Figure 33.4b), a widespread gesture of dance in ancient Mesoamerica (Taube 1988a:128, 136, 151, 1989b). In addition, Classic Maya examples often hold fans (Figures 33.4c and 33.5c), which, like rattles, are an important indication of dance and performance in Maya iconography (Taube 1989b). One Jaina-style figurine depicts a woman supporting a massive fat god who fondles her breast with one hand, possibly alluding not only to gluttony but also to lust, another common source of social condemnation (Figure 33.4d).

Even in its earliest-known appearance (Figure 33.2a), the fat god may have been identified with clowning and performance. The aforementioned Early Formative Tlatilco vessel depicts the fat god with pocked circular elements on the forehead and ears. These cranial decorations are probably downy feathers, and may mark performers and entertainers in Olmec iconography (see PC.B.166); this may tie in with PC.B.551 seeming to portray an individual wearing a mask of the fat god, as if impersonating this grotesque being during a theatrical performance.

Although the fat god may represent a sacred clown character of impressive antiquity and longevity, this being appears to be more than a supernatural personification of gluttony. The many Middle and Late Formative monumental stone carvings of the fat god suggest it had an important symbolic role in early southeastern Mesoamerica. I suspect it may have been a personification of the domestic three-stone kitchen hearth, and was identified with the concepts of territory and centrality as well as gluttony. It has recently become apparent that the three-stone hearth was an extremely important metaphor for the axis mundi among the ancient Maya (Freidel, Schele, and Parker 1993; Taube 1998a). Certain Protoclassic Maya stone spheres bear faces of the fat god, as if personifications of spherical hearthstones (Ekholm 1970:94–95; Parsons 1986:fig. 133). In addition, triadic groupings of fat god sculptures are known from Santa Leticia, El Salvador, and Finca Sololá, Guatemala (Demarest 1986; Parsons 1986:figs. 92, 113; Rodas 1993:6–7). There is also a probable Terminal Classic triadic grouping of fat god sculptures at Seibal, where three rotund seated figures support a flat jaguar altar, much like a comal on a three-stone hearth (see Smith 1982:fig. 140b).

Triadic appearances of the fat god are not limited to monumental stone sculpture: at Classic Teotihuacan, three-pronged ceramic kitchen braziers often functioned much like portable versions of a three-stone hearth. Quite frequently, the three prongs are decorated with the fat god (Linné 1942:fig. 306; Manzanilla, Ortiz Butrón, and Jiménez 1993:fig. 139; Séjourné 1959:fig. 98). One Teotihuacan ceramic object portrays three fat god heads placed equidistantly around the edge of a concave disk (Von Winning 1987:1:fig. 1o). In the northern Maya lowlands, the fat god can also appear on the tripod feet of large Late Classic food bowls, or hawante (Brainerd 1958:fig. 88). The common appearance of the fat god in triadic groupings, as well as its frequent resemblance to spherical hearthstones in early Maya piedmont sculpture, suggests that it embodied the three-stone hearth and its attendant significance as the pivotal axis mundi. Thus, along with apparently being a Bacchus-like character of feasting and clowning, the fat god may have been an embodiment of the world center, the source of fertility, prosperity, and wealth.

 

Notes

Accession numberPC.B.551
Attribution and Date
Middle Formative, 900–300 BCE
Measurements

H. 5.4 cm; W. 5.1 cm; D. 3.5 cm; Wt. 77.86 g

Technique and Material

Jadeite

Acquisition history

Acquired by Dumbarton Oaks from Everett Rassiga, 1966

Benson, Elizabeth B. 1969. Supplement to the Handbook of the Robert Woods Bliss Collection of Pre-Columbian Art. Washington, D.C.: Dumbarton Oaks. No. 429.

Benson, Elizabeth P. 1981. Some Olmec Objects in the Robert Woods Bliss Collection at Dumbarton Oaks. In The Olmec and Their Neighbors: Essays in Memory of Matthew W. Stirling, edited by Elizabeth P. Benson, pp. 95–108. Washington, D.C.: Dumbarton Oaks. Pp. 104–105, figs. 8–9. 

Taube, Karl A. 2004. Olmec Art at Dumbarton Oaks. Washington, D.C.: Dumbarton Oaks. Pp. 156–161, pls. 33–33a.

Accession numberPC.B.551
Attribution and Date
Middle Formative, 900–300 BCE
Measurements

H. 5.4 cm; W. 5.1 cm; D. 3.5 cm; Wt. 77.86 g

Technique and Material

Jadeite

Acquisition history

Acquired by Dumbarton Oaks from Everett Rassiga, 1966