Returned to lender The Met accepts temporary loans of art both for short-term exhibitions and for long-term display in its galleries.

Mask

Mexica

Not on view

The greenstone mask featuring obsidian pupils appears to have been made in Tenochtitlan by Mexica artists emulating the ancient style of masks from Teotihuacan, a long-abandoned site near the Mexica capital. Such works signal the Mexica reverence for greenstone and for antiquities from illustrious civilizations of the past.




Estas máscaras de jade son parte de la gran cantidad de ofrendas encontradas en el Templo Mayor. Una de ellas, con incrustaciones de obsidiana en las pupilas, parece haber sido elaborada en Tenochtitlan por artistas mexicas, al antiguo estilo de las máscaras de Teotihuacán, un sitio abandonado cerca de la capital mexica que estaba en ruinas. Estos objetos recalcan la veneración que tenían los mexicas por el jade y por los objetos antiguos que pertenecían a civilizaciones pasadas ilustres.

Mask, Greenstone, obsidian inlays, Mexica

Due to rights restrictions, this image cannot be enlarged, viewed at full screen, or downloaded.

Open Access

As part of the Met's Open Access policy, you can freely copy, modify and distribute this image, even for commercial purposes.

API

Public domain data for this object can also be accessed using the Met's Open Access API.