On view
Head from a figure,
1000–400 BCE
More Context
This impressive head of a were-jaguar represented in this fragment includes features indicating the figure is posed mid-point in the transformation from human to jaguar. Round and drawn to points at the outside corners, the deeply excavated eyes probably held inlays of a dark, reflective material such as pyrite. The human nose has broadened and the nostrils are slightly flared; the wide, open mouth, with indications of sharp fangs, takes on the aspect of a growl. The ears are completely human. The brow is knitted and creased with ridges above the eyes and another ridge, beginning above the ear and running over the smooth crown of the head that may indicate the emergence of the jaguar from the human shell. (adapted from The Olmec World, 1996)
More About This Object
Information
1000–400 BCE
North America, Mexico, possibly from Veracruz, Gulf Coast
English collection [1]. Between 1960 and 1969, Judith Nash sold to John B. Elliott (1928-1997), Class of 1951, Princeton, NJ [2]; 1998, John B. Elliott bequeathed to the Princeton University Art Museum.
Notes:
[1] According to correspondence with Julie Jones, this object was lent to the Museum of Primitive Art’s 1969 exhibition “Precolumbian Art in New York: Selections from Private Collections,” cat. no. 1, from John Elliott. According to their files, the object “came from England.”
[2] According to correspondence from Judy Nash, she sold this object to John Elliott sometime between opening her New York gallery in 1960 and leaving for London in 1973. Roll 160 and related notes in the Robert Sonin archive, dated November 1969, note this object was in the Elliott collection by this time.
- Julie Jones, Pre-Columbian Art in New York: Selections from Private Collections (New York: The Museum of Primitive Art, 1969)., cat. no. 102 (illus.)
- Michael D. Coe et al., The Olmec World: Ritual and Rulership (Princeton, Princeton University Art Museum, 1996), cat. no. 100, p. 209 (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. 65
