Property from an American Private Collection
Olmec Jade Head of an Elderly Man, Middle Preclassic, circa 900-600 BC
Lot Closed
November 21, 07:20 PM GMT
Estimate
5,000 - 7,000 USD
Lot Details
Description
Property from an American Private Collection
Olmec Jade Head of an Elderly Man
Middle Preclassic, circa 900-600 BC
Height: 1 ½ in (3.8 cm)
American Private Collection, acquired from the above in November 1965
The Art Museum, Princeton University, Princeton, New Jersey, The Olmec World: Ritual and Rulership, December 16, 1995 - February 25, 1996; additional venue: The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, April 14 - June 9, 1996
The Walters Art Museum, Baltimore, Ancient America, long-term loan, 2001-2011
This remarkable portrait of a bearded old man conveys his sage humanity. He looks out from recessed eyes set well under the brows and has high cheekbones above the lined sunken cheeks and a straight narrowed mouth. The nose is pierced at the septum by the precision of a master carver. The figure, likely in a seated posture, was carved in mottled green jade and polished to an even sheen.
Bearded figures are usually associated with transformation. For similarly aged visages, see Michael D. Coe, ed. The Olmec World: Ritual and Rulership, Princeton, 1995, p. 299, cat. nos. 213 and 215.
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