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Ancient American Jade

• 
  Incised Celt, 10th–6th century b.c.
  Mexico; Olmec
  Jade (jadeite)

  H. 14 3/8 in. (36.5 cm)
  The Michael C. Rockefeller Memorial Collection, Gift of Nelson A. Rockefeller, 1963 (1978.412.5)

• 
  Mask, 10th–6th century b.c.
  Mexico; Olmec
  Jadeite

  H. 6 3/4 in. (17.1 cm)
  Bequest of Alice K. Bache, 1977 (1977.187.33)

• 
  Pair of Earflare Frontals, 3rd–6th century
  Guatemala; Maya
  Jadeite

  H. 2 in. (5.1 cm)
  Gift of Arthur M. Bullowa, 1989 (1989.314.15a,b)

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Many American works of art in jade are green in color with widely varied tonal values.

Related

Cited Works of Art or Images (1)

• 

Timelines (3)

• Central America, 2000–1000 B.C.
• Central America, 1000 B.C.–1 A.D.
• Central America, 1–500 A.D.

Thematic Essays (3)

• Jade in Costa Rica
• Jade in Mesoamerica
• Tenochtitlan

Maps (1)

• World, 2000–1000 b.c.

Index Terms (13)

Art Movement/Style

• Atlantic Watershed Art of the Americas
• Guanacaste–Nicoya Art of the Americas
• Olmec Art of the Americas

Geography/Place

• Central America
• Mexico

Material and Technique

• Jade

Object

• Earrings
• Hunting Implement

Subject Matter/Theme

• Archaeology from Central America
• Hunting
• Indigenous Deity from Central America
• Plant Motif
• Stone with Floral Motif

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American jade is made up of a group of semiprecious hard stones. Chief among them is a dense rock composed almost entirely of the mineral jadeite, a sodium aluminum silicate of the pyroxene family noted for its beautiful color when worked. The rock is extremely durable and very rare, and it was used in two ancient American regions: in Mesoamerica, where it is believed to have been made initially into simple items such as beads around 1500 B.C., and in the part of Central America now known as Costa Rica, where the first sculptural forms were probably carved about a thousand years later. As in China, where semiprecious hard stones—also known collectively today as jade—were worked from very early times, the initial use of such stones is thought to be an outgrowth of the production of tools, weapons, and ornaments of more common stone. Its compact structure, hardness, and admirable surface gleam when polished recommended jade for works of special status. Salient among those objects in the Americas was the celt, or ax, which was a working tool. The form of that tool then took on a symbolic aura of its own and it was used for objects of all sorts, from pendants to ritual objects.

Many American works of art in jade are green in color with widely varied tonal values—ranging from a pale apple hue, to a distinctive blue green, to almost black—where the basic "greenness" remains significant. In ancient Mesoamerican thought, green was the color associated with rain, water, and young growing plants, all highly meaningful to the societies dependent upon them for survival.

Department of Arts of Africa, Oceania, and the Americas, The Metropolitan Museum of Art

Citation Department of Arts of Africa, Oceania, and the Americas. "Ancient American Jade". In Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2000–. http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/jade/hd_jade.htm (October 2001) Further Reading Lange, Frederick W., ed. Precolumbian Jade: New Geological and Cultural Interpretations. Salt Lake City: University of Utah Press, 1993. Related exhibitions and online features Special Exhibitions (including upcoming, current, and past exhibitions) The Philippe de Montebello Years: Curators Celebrate Three Decades of Acquisitions

These related Museum Bulletin or Journal articles may or may not represent the most current scholarship. Newton, Douglas. "The Art of Africa, the Pacific Islands, and the Americas: A New Perspective." The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin, v. 39, no. 2 (Fall, 1981). JSTOR | PDF | Supplemental PDFs "Director's Note" PDF