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Jade in Mesoamerica

• 
  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)

• 
  Eagle Transformation Figure, 10th–6th century b.c.
  Mexico; Olmec
  Jade (albite), cinnabar

  H. 4 1/2 in. (11.4 cm)
  Rogers Fund, 1994 (1994.380)

• 
  Deity Figure, 3rd–6th century
  Honduras; Maya
  Jade (jadeite), cinnabar

  H. 4 1/4 in. (10.8 cm)
  The Michael C. Rockefeller Memorial Collection, Bequest of Nelson A. Rockefeller, 1979 (1979.206.1069)

• 
  Head Pendant, 6th–9th century
  Mexico or Guatemala; Maya
  Jade (jadeite)

  H. 3 3/8 in. (8.6 cm)
  Gift of Heber R. Bishop, 1902 (02.18.309)

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Complex imagery characterizes Olmec sculpture in jade and the inclusion of feline and avian elements particularly add to the symbolic power of the depictions.

Related

Timelines (4)

• Maya Area, 1000 B.C.–1 A.D.
• Maya Area, 1–500 A.D.
• Mexico, 1000 B.C.–1 A.D.
• Mexico, 500–1000 A.D.

Primary Thematic Essays (2)

• Ancient American Jade
• Jade in Costa Rica

Other Thematic Essays (1)

• Tenochtitlan

Maps (1)

• World, 1000 b.c.–1 a.d.

Index Terms (16)

Art Movement/Style

• Mayan Art of the Americas
• Olmec Art of the Americas

Geography/Place

• Central America
• Maya Area
• Mexico

Material and Technique

• Jade
• Relief Sculpture from Central America
• Sculpture in the Round from Central America

Object

• Mask
• Pendant

Subject Matter/Theme

• Anthropomorphic Figure
• Bird
• Funerary Art from Central America
• Indigenous Deity from Central America
• Mythological Figure from Central America
• Plant Motif

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Figurative works in jade were being made by 1000 B.C. by the Olmec peoples of the Mexican Gulf Coast. Professionally excavated in important burials and caches, objects of diverse sorts came to light in the 1940s and 1950s at the site of La Venta in the present-day Mexican state of Tabasco. They included human figures, human-animal composite depictions (thought to be deity images), celts (axes) both plain and incised, and personal ornaments such as earflares and beads. Generally small in scale, exhibiting an extraordinary command of the extremely difficult-to-carve stone medium, Olmec jade objects were of preference translucent blue green in color and were unsurpassed in the ancient Americas for compact, symmetrically balanced, three-dimensional form, and elegance of surface detail. Complex imagery characterizes Olmec sculpture in jade and the inclusion of feline and avian elements particularly add to the symbolic power of the depictions.

Subsequent Mesoamerican peoples also carved and revered jade. An enlarged repertory of shapes and different color preferences mark the later works. During much of the first millennium A.D., the Maya peoples of southern Mexico and adjacent Guatemala preferred jade of a bright green hue. Among their significant works are low-relief carved plaques with images of lords and attendants. Several hundred years later, at the time of the Spaniards' arrival in the Aztec capital of Tenochtitlán in the sixteenth century, jade was the most valued of substances. Reserved for the adornment of gods and royalty, and only then on specified occasions, jade was considered a symbol of life and purity.

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

Citation Department of Arts of Africa, Oceania, and the Americas. "Jade in Mesoamerica". In Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2000–. http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/jade2/hd_jade2.htm (October 2001) Further Reading Jones, Julie, ed. Jade in Ancient Costa Rica. New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1999. 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