**Originally Listed At $500**

Pre-Columbian, Central Mexico, Guerrero region, Chontal, Late Preclassic period, ca. 300 to 100 BCE. A carved stone face, that may have been used as a funerary mask / head with string cut and polished features that are soft but still discernable. The simplistic facial features rendered to the bare minimum as raised ridges or shallow depressions - eyebrows, slight nasal ridge, ears, and indentation for a mouth. Scholars believe that stone visages were tied to funerary bundles of the noble elite to mark their passing and give them identity in the grave. Outside the grave, the dead were sometimes represented in art merely by a mask, or a mask set upon a small pyramid. Size: 4" L x 2" W x 6" H (10.2 cm x 5.1 cm x 15.2 cm)

Provenance: ex-collection of the late Peter Arnovick, San Francisco, California, USA, acquired before 1995

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#180792

Chips and gouges to top and verso, surface abrasions and nicks on face, otherwise intact without repairs. Softening to carvved details and light mineral deposits.