**First Time At Auction**

Pre-Columbian, Southern Mexico to Guatemala, Maya, Late Classic Period, ca. 550 to 900 CE. A gorgeous pair of jade and greenstone earspools, expertly hand-carved and polished. Both have central openings and a flat verso, suggesting that a wooden plug through the opening secured the discs in the wearer’s ear. Both are painstakingly polished to a smooth and silky texture. Jade was revered by the Maya not only for its beauty, but also because it had spiritual power - it was believed to be the embodiment of the wind and the "breath" that formed the Maya soul. Ear spools are often shown in profile in Mayan art, usually with a bead or serpent emerging from that central hollow plug; this is interpreted to be a symbolic supernatural passageway for the breath of the soul to travel through. Size of largest: 2.375" Diameter x 0.75" W (6 cm x 1.9 cm)

Provenance: private Fayetteville, Arkansas, USA collection; ex-Dr. David Harner collection, Springdale, Arkansas, USA, acquired between the 1950s and 1960s

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#164202

Loss to one spool as shown, and repaired from two pieces, hairline fissure encircling that area. Small chips to outer peripheries. Other spool is intact with only minor nicks. Both are polished.