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Maskette

Photo: Elizabeth Mann

Maskette

ca. 900 - 400 B.C.

Soft, fleshy figures, some seeming to represent babies, were made by the Olmec as monumental heads, ceramic figures, and diminutive maskettes. The Olmec considered jade their most precious material because it was associated with water and water’s life-giving forces. It amazes us today that this hard stone was tuned into such a delicate sculptural creation.
Stone
3 1/16 x 2 5/16 x 1 1/2 in. (7.78 x 5.91 x 3.81 cm)
Gift of John H. Hauberg
82.165
Photo: Elizabeth Mann
location
Now on view at the Seattle Art Museum

Resources

Exhibition HistorySeattle, Washington, Seattle Art Museum, Art of the Ancient Americas, July 10, 1999 - May 11, 2003.

Seattle, Washington, Seattle Art Museum, Cosmic Beings in Mesoamerican and Andean Art, Nov. 10, 2018 - ongoing.
Published ReferencesMiller, Mary. "Art of Oceania, Mesoamerica, and the Andes." In Selected Works, pp. 59-64. Seattle: Seattle Art Museum, 1991; p. 59, reproduced.

Seattle Art Museum respectfully acknowledges that we are on Indigenous land, the traditional territories of the Coast Salish people. We honor our ongoing connection to these communities past, present, and future.

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