On view
Mask,
300–600 CE
More Context
Although this style of "mask" clearly derives from the great Mesoamerican metropolis of Teotihuacan, very few of these objects have been found in archaeological excavations at that site, leaving their original function open to speculation. Because of the flat or slightly concave backs of Teotihuacan "masks" and the absence of eyeholes, it would not have been practical for living people to wear them as actual masks. Instead, the objects may have been attached to cloth-wrapped mummy bundles, or have been affixed to ceramic or wood god effigies. Given the pan-Mesoamerican tradition of ancestor veneration and the Teotihuacan predeliction for rearticulating composite objects, these possibilities are not mutually exclusive. The large, almond eyes, rectangular ears, and open mouth that are ubiquitous among such masks compose an impersonal, geometric face. The style likely derives from the drilling and sawing techniques used to carve such hard stones without metal tools. Ceramic examples found at Teotihuacan, however, follow the same aesthetic. The eyes and mouth of this mask were once inlayed with another material of a contrasting color.
Information
300–600 CE
North America, Mexico, Central Mexico, Teotihuacán
- Jill Guthrie, ed., In celebration: works of art from the Collections of Princeton Alumni and Friends of The Art Museum, Princeton University, (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Art Museum, 1997)., p. 288, cat. no. 260 (illus.); [card citation = no. 269 (illus.)]
- Gillett G. Griffin and Matthew Robb, "Pre-Columbian Art: A Selection from The John B. Elliott Collection," Record of the Princeton University Art Museum 61 (2002): 26–35., p. 30, cat. no. 3 (illus.)
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"The checklist of the John B. Elliott Bequest," Record of the Princeton University Art Museum 61 (2002): p. 49-99.
, p. 94 - Princeton University Art Museum: Handbook of the Collection (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2007), 286 (illus.)
