A Maya Jade Mosaic Mask Early Classic/Classic, ca. A.D. 300-600

the finely cut and fitted elite costume ornament worn on the chest or belt, composed of six carefully cut jade pieces, with open mouth and full upper lip, smooth cheeks subtly modeled, the nose with slightly flared nostrils, and forehead with marked brow line, accompanied by three, thin celt-shape danglers serving as ornaments suspended below the mask, each with pierced T-shape representative of the ik or wind symbol, and with two pairs of incised ornaments perhaps forming part of an zoomorphic effigy, each incised with segments possibly as wings or feathers; all in pale, mottled green jade. 

Stendahl Gallery, 1974
Texas private collection , acquired from the above

Houston, God, Man and Animal: Precolumbian Art from Pirvate Collections in Houston and Austin, Houston Museum of Fine Arts, March 3-June 3, 1990, and continuing on exhibit till 1996
Princeton, In Celebration, Works of Art from the Collections of Princeton Alumni and Friends of The Art Museum, Princeton University, February 22-June 8, 1997, pl. 69

Overall all very good, each plaque very good, fine carving on face elements; all danglers intact- minor knicks on one side of one plaque; incised elements show remains of red pigment , all intact.
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The spectacular costumes and ornaments of the ancient Maya elite were integral to their affirmation of political power and ancestral affiliation. The complete immersion of their bodies within jade, feathers, textiles, leather and animal skin is vividly shown on large scale stelae, smaller incised jade plaques, as well as polychrome pottery (eg. Izapa Stele 4, Machaquila stelae 2-6, Kaminaljuyu Stela 11, the Leiden plaque). Jewelry  were 'instruments of power',  fashioned into iconic badges of office, showing a control of precious resources, and linking the wearer  to  "his community's history, to his deified ancestors and the gods themselves " (Fields and Reents-Budet 2005:173).
Erin Browder's (1991:2) study of Maya elite costume notes that paraphernalia corresponding to status and identity  "...are not randomly depicted but rather occur in meaningful complexes of costume and hand held objects."  
Important assemblages with masks and dangling plaques were worn on the chest and along the belt or yoke. Masks either depicted deities, such as Principal Bird Deity, or naturalistic portraits or idealized faces. The three dangles typically symbolized the sprouting maize,  their movement and sound adding a theatrical element, here under scoring the reference to ik, meaning 'breath' and 'wind'. 
Jade was the ultimate precious symbol of life-giving water, fertility and purity. Carving, cutting and fitting this immensely hard stone into three dimensional sculptures was the work of high level craftsmen. Some jade jewelry and ornaments were transported into far reaches of the Maya kingdom, perhaps denoting a victorious dispersal of elite accouterment (Fields and Reents-Budet 2005:196). 

For examples of jade masks, including mosaic examples, and belt ornaments, see ibid (cat. nos. 76, 77, 94, and 135); and Miller and Martin (2004: pls. 24, 25 and 133). For a small mosaic mask found in a cache, made from shell, bone, leather and mounted on wood, see Schmidt (1998: 615, cat. no. 382).