Pre-Columbian, Mexico, Guerrero, Mezcala culture (Balsas culture), ca. 700 to 200 BCE. A string-cut olive-colored greenstone pendant in the form of a stylized human face with a large forehead and cheeks. Shallow, drilled eyes may once have been inlaid with shell or some other decorative material. The mouth is also shallowly dug out, probably using a drill followed by smoothing with sandstone. The stone is mottled and veined, making the face appear wrinkled and aged. Greenstone was more valuable than gold in Mesoamerica, and this would have been a valuable item, perhaps buried with its owner, an important person, to mark his or her passing and provide an 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. The piece is drilled for suspension through the forehead. Size: 2.25" W x 2.8" H (5.7 cm x 7.1 cm)

Provenance: private Hawaii, USA collection; ex Hirsch collection, Germany

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#132607

Excellent.