**First Time At Auction**

Pre-Columbian, Southern Mexico to Guatemala, Olmec, Mezcala, & Maya culture, ca. 500 BCE to 900 CE. A beautiful collection of 58 apple green nephrite jade beads from various ancient Mesoamerican cultures. The beads are strung in a balanced arrangement on a modern wire as a wearable necklace with a brass push clasp. The stones are polished into asymmetrical as well as barrel and spherical forms, boasting rich hues that echo the verdant rainforest. 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. Size of strand: 16.5" L (41.9 cm); central bead: 0.7" L x 0.6" W (1.8 cm x 1.5 cm)

Research in the late 1990s and early 2000s pinpointed the source of "Olmec blue" jadeite at being in the lowland Motagua River near the modern-day border of Guatemala and Honduras; stone from this source was carved and traded widely throughout early Mesoamerica. The value of jade for ancient people lay in its symbolic power: perhaps its color was associated with water and vegetation; later, the Maya would place jade beads in the mouths of the dead. Many scholars have argued that the demand for jadeite contributed to the rise of long-distance trading networks and to the rise of urban centers in ancient Mesoamerica.

Provenance: private Dallas, Texas, USA collection

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#177521

Beads are ancient with minor chips and nicks and light mineral deposits. Stung in modern times on a wire with a brass push clasp as a wearable necklace.