Kneeling lord with incised toad on his head,

900–500 BCE

This figurine captures the charged moment just before a ruler-shaman undergoes a ritual transformation, presumably into a jaguar or other zoomorphic alter ego. While Mesoamerican belief held that all people have companion spirits, or alter egos, only those with great spiritual power and purported supernatural heredity could physically become their alter egos. Among the Olmec, such transformational powers seem to have been the sole right and responsibility of ruler-shamans, granting them the unique ability to interact directly with the supernatural world and with ancestors. Through this communication, they could ensure agriculturally favorable weather, bountiful hunts and harvests, and political stability, and prevent malevolent gods from inflicting harm on the earthly kingdom and its population through illness, natural catastrophes, or other negative interdictions. The shaved scalp reveals the finely incised outline of a bufo marina, a species of toad well-known for the hallucinogenic powers of secretions it emits from glands just behind its eyes. Scholars have noted that the lenticular form incised on the toad's back depicts the early stages of the amphibian's own natural metamorphosis through molting. The ruler-shaman's shaved scalp, in turn, may signal his analogous transformation, as his outer human form is shed to reveal his inner alter ego. It is not known whether the use of toad imagery in such representations was meant merely to suggest natural processes of transformation or if it signals the use of the hallucinogenic bufo marina secretions as a ritual catalyst. The forward-leaning posture and expressive face grant the figure a charismatic presence. The concavities at the eyes once held inlays, likely of pyrite, obsidian, or shell, which would have further enhanced the sense of liveliness. Overall, the figure is naturalistically modeled, with attentively rendered musculature and bone structure, although it lacks any indication of genitalia, and the feet, hands, and ears are simplified. The gray stone is coated with red pigment, probably cinnabar, except in a zone that may once have been covered by a fabric hipcloth. The exact function of such sculptures, a common type among the Olmec, remains unknown.

With the transition of Olmec power from San Lorenzo to La Venta at the beginning of the Middle Formative period, small-scale stone sculpture replaced ceramic vessels as the primary mode of dissemination for Olmec mythology and style. Many such small-scale works, including this exceptionally fine example, maintain the sense of monumentality of the famous large-scale works of Olmec stone carving. Although hand-sized, the stable geometry of this figure’s kneeling pose, with hands resting at the knees, imbues the work with a sense of stability, compactness, and weight. At the same time, the sculptor was keenly sensitive to the substance of the human body; the viewer senses the softness of muscle and fat, as well as the underlying skeletal structure within. This figure’s powerful, composed demeanor suggests it depicts an Olmec lord. The carver effectively conveyed a strong sense of individuality to the face, while the slightly sagging chest and paunch indicate maturity. The figure’s scalp has been split, with flaps of hair hanging at the back of the head. The scalp is inscribed with the image of a molting toad (not the diamond shape on its back where the skin has split). Although some speculate that the figure is transforming into an animal — a process purportedly induced by consumption of hallucinogenic toad secretions — it is also plausible that the sculpture associates dynastic continuity with natural cycles of renewal; just as a toad sheds its "dead" self to reveal new life, so, too, royal inheritance will emerge from ancestors as descendants.