On view
Spoon-shaped pendant,
900–500 BCE
Olmec Stone-carving
Concurrent with the shift of Olmec political power from San Lorenzo, Veracruz, to La Venta, Tabasco, around 1000 B.C., widely distributed Olmec-style ceramics fade from the archaeological record, to be replaced by fine, small-scale carvings in stone, especially blue-green jadeite and serpentine. Incised jewelry, so-called “spoons,” masklike faces, and complexly modeled animal, human, and supernatural figures, all of Middle Formative date (1000–500 B.C.) and carved in Olmec style, have been discovered throughout most of Mesoamerica, from Costa Rica to the central Mexican Highlands to the southwest Mexican coast in the present-day state of Guerrero.
More Context
Didactics
Few objects in Olmec art can be admired more for pure unadorned form than the jade spoon seen here. The subtly angled long handle, the dip of the bowl, and the shorter projection suggest a symbolism beyond functional considerations. The concavity is finely graded from the handle to the half curve, which marks the deepest point. Two holes along the top edge indicate that the spoon could also have been worn as a pendant. The form of these asymmetrical spoons has been interpreted as the body of a tadpole or a long-tailed bird, and many are incised with avian symbols. These receptacles may have been used for hallucinogens to induce the shaman's meditative trance and flight. (from The Olmec World, 1996)
Information
900–500 BCE
North America, Mexico, Guerrero
By 1989, John B. Rhoads, Mexico City [1]; 2004, John B. Rhoads sold to the Princeton University Art Museum.
Notes:
[1] Lent to the Princeton University Art Museum in 1989 (L.1989.109.14).
- Michael D. Coe et al., The Olmec World: Ritual and Rulership (Princeton, Princeton University Art Museum, 1996), fig. 3, p. 51 (illus.)
- Carolyn Tate and Gordon Bendersky, "Olmec Sculptures of the Human Fetus," Perspectives in Biology and Medicine 42, no. 3 (1999): 303-332., fig. 20, p. 329 (illus.)
- "Acquisitions of the Princeton University Art Museum 2004," Record of the Princeton University Art Museum 64 (2005): p. 91-135., p. 104
