Some of history's great masterpieces have been damaged or are incomplete. This face, sculpted almost 3,000 years ago, is one of these masterpieces. It is not a mask, nor is it a sculpture of just a face (like they used to sculpt heads, for example). It is a face that was removed from a sculpture, which very likely would have been a complete body.
Stylistically there is no doubt that this is an Olmec piece. However, we know that "Olmec" can refer to pieces from different regions. The resolute naturalism used to form this face and the successful sensation of facial folds, the cheeks, nose and especially the fleshiness of the lips are all features of stone sculpting from the Gulf of Mexico. Such naturalism and expressiveness can be seen in clay pieces from different regions during this period but only in the Gulf Coast were similar pieces made in stone. It is very probable that the motivation behind this stylistic path would have been to pay homage to sovereigns by depicting them after their death.
Just like the stone representations of sovereigns in magnificent portraits (such as the colossal heads themselves), they were used to exalt and celebrate their power and prestige. It also seems that any rupture in the political order, like the supplanting of one by another or any similar cataclysm in the life of the ruling classes, was symbolically expressed with the destruction of the monuments of the disgraced group. We know of several Olmec sculptures from the Gulf Coast with faces that were deliberately damaged and their heads removed; here we can see the face that was ripped off but we do not know what body it was originally attached to.
As we know, the Olmec phenomenon extended throughout large areas in Mesoamerica, such as the Balsas River basin or the coast of Chiapas. Some of the stylistic characteristics were shared by groups from different regions, but not all of them. This means that, for example, in Chalcatzingo, we have Olmec style steles and feline figures, while in Teopantecuanitlan, we have the sculpted head concept and schematic images with many symbols similar to the axes and other pieces from the Gulf. However, only in the coastal region of Tabasco and Veracruz do we find the development of naturalist sculpture in stone like this piece.
Some of history's great masterpieces have been damaged or are incomplete. This face, sculpted almost 3,000 years ago, is one of these masterpieces. It is not a mask, nor is it a sculpture of just a face (like they used to sculpt heads, for example). It is a face that was removed from a sculpture, which very likely would have been a complete body.
