Both for its formal features and its function, this pair of objects of rounded volume is enigmatic; however, their differences, their material aspect in emerald green jadeite, and manufacturing features, allow us to assume the same authorship.
They evoke animal faces, perhaps of felines, one with a relatively naturalistic tendency with pierced eyes and a closed muzzle, although with a very irregular surface. The other is geometrized with two stripes that their ends to suggest the lips of a wide half-open mouth, and with another strip in the shape of a "u" in an ocular zone. In addition, they are perforated and hollowed out. The first has three cylindrical holes (plus some attempts) and a short groove in the upper middle part. The second has seven tubular perforations, four are smaller than the lateral ones in the middle part that are on the same longitudinal axis. In the first piece, two of the perforations are also located on the same axis. This indicates its design to be crossed with a string and be part of a necklace, perhaps a string composed of a series of beads of similar or different shapes, sizes, and materials. The surface of the ones seen here was polished and burnished, hence their remarkable luster and increased value.
The hollowing in both works was finely elaborated to carve, from a circular mouth or opening, smooth concave forms with thin walls. The grooves in the two prevent them from serving as tiny closed containers. In another interpretation, they would make it possible for liquids or other contents to drain out.
Furthermore, their meticulous and complicated technical execution by a highly specialized lapidary artificer is evident, and the deep appreciation of the material in which they are made. Its use as a jewel has a meaning that goes beyond the ornamental and concerns the highest qualities of beauty, the sacred, the valuable, the luxurious, the exclusive, and the rare. The source of jadeite in Mesoamerica, which is the highest quality green mineral, is located in the southeastern region, in the Motagua River Valley in Guatemala.
In the Mesoamerican world, fine blue-green stones are highly valued, and their qualities include their limited availability, peculiar shapes and sizes, chromatism in various shades and intensities, smoothness, durability, brilliance, transparency, translucency, iridescence, and reflectance. The objects made with them were sumptuary goods, used as ornaments and in ritual paraphernalia. They denoted social prestige, power, and sacredness. In particular, green stones such as the ones seen here were attributed with links to sacred and sacrificial liquids, life, vital breath, fertility, the cold, the humid, the aquatic, and the world below the earth that was filled with water. The link with the marine underworld also concerns the origin, the feminine, the deceased and ancestors, darkness, chaos, sexuality, clouds, lightning, rain, and wind.
Jadeite carved beads and images abound in the attire of deities, rulers, of the aristocracy, and the priestly class among the Maya, Olmec, and other cultures. In addition to their use as jewelry, it was customary to place fine green pebbles in the mouth cavity of the deceased, as a tangible and lasting expression of their vital breath. In the same vein, some statues had orifices in the chest in which fine stones were deposited to activate the images represented. In Nahuatl, these green stones and the beads made with them are called chalchihuites. They are precious objects in the full semantic extension of the term, beyond the geological.
Both for its formal features and its function, this pair of objects of rounded volume is enigmatic; however, their differences, their material aspect in emerald green jadeite, and manufacturing features, allow us to assume the same authorship.
They evoke animal faces, perhaps of felines, one with a relatively naturalistic tendency with pierced eyes and a closed muzzle, although with a very irregular surface. The other is geometrized with two stripes that their ends to suggest the lips of a wide half-open mouth, and with another strip in the shape of a "u" in an ocular zone. In addition, they are perforated and hollowed out. The first has three cylindrical holes (plus some attempts) and a short groove in the upper middle part. The second has seven tubular perforations, four are smaller than the lateral ones in the middle part that are on the same longitudinal axis. In the first piece, two of the perforations are also located on the same axis. This indicates its design to be crossed with a string and be part of a necklace, perhaps a string composed of a series of beads of similar or different shapes, sizes, and materials. The surface of the ones seen here was polished and burnished, hence their remarkable luster and increased value.
The hollowing in both works was finely elaborated to carve, from a circular mouth or opening, smooth concave forms with thin walls. The grooves in the two prevent them from serving as tiny closed containers. In another interpretation, they would make it possible for liquids or other contents to drain out.
Furthermore, their meticulous and complicated technical execution by a highly specialized lapidary artificer is evident, and the deep appreciation of the material in which they are made. Its use as a jewel has a meaning that goes beyond the ornamental and concerns the highest qualities of beauty, the sacred, the valuable, the luxurious, the exclusive, and the rare. The source of jadeite in Mesoamerica, which is the highest quality green mineral, is located in the southeastern region, in the Motagua River Valley in Guatemala.
In the Mesoamerican world, fine blue-green stones are highly valued, and their qualities include their limited availability, peculiar shapes and sizes, chromatism in various shades and intensities, smoothness, durability, brilliance, transparency, translucency, iridescence, and reflectance. The objects made with them were sumptuary goods, used as ornaments and in ritual paraphernalia. They denoted social prestige, power, and sacredness. In particular, green stones such as the ones seen here were attributed with links to sacred and sacrificial liquids, life, vital breath, fertility, the cold, the humid, the aquatic, and the world below the earth that was filled with water. The link with the marine underworld also concerns the origin, the feminine, the deceased and ancestors, darkness, chaos, sexuality, clouds, lightning, rain, and wind.
Jadeite carved beads and images abound in the attire of deities, rulers, of the aristocracy, and the priestly class among the Maya, Olmec, and other cultures. In addition to their use as jewelry, it was customary to place fine green pebbles in the mouth cavity of the deceased, as a tangible and lasting expression of their vital breath. In the same vein, some statues had orifices in the chest in which fine stones were deposited to activate the images represented. In Nahuatl, these green stones and the beads made with them are called chalchihuites. They are precious objects in the full semantic extension of the term, beyond the geological.
