Artist:
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Unknown
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Title:
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Mask
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Date:
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900-300 BCE
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Medium:
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Jadeite, cinnabar
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Dimensions:
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6 7/8 x 5 9/16 x 3 1/4 in. (17.46 x 14.13 x 8.26 cm)
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Credit Line:
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The John R. Van Derlip Fund
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Location:
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Gallery 260
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This mask was created about 3000 years ago, perhaps as a portrait of a leader among the Olmec people of Mesoamerica (present-day southern Mexico). It was likely reserved for ceremonial use or burial. An artist sculpted it from jadeite, then carved lines and highlighted them with a red mineral powder of mercury sulfide (cinnabar). These lines may replicate face paint or tattooing. The rare materials and symbolic designs, like the supernatural human-jaguar whose face hovers above the right eye, reflect the ruler's religious and political power.
Artist/Creator(s)
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Name:
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Unknown
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Object Description
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Inscriptions:
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Inscription
On back at bottom in black: [AA 177]
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Classification:
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Mask (Do Not Use)
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Physical Description:
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human face with long ears; open mouth with teeth; red linear designs
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Creation Place:
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Central America, Mexico, Gulf Coast region, Guerrero,
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Accession #:
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2002.127
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Owner:
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The Minneapolis Institute of Arts
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