It can be conjectured that the two pieces of jewelry represent feline heads, a naturalistic profile view and a frontal view with modified features. The delicacy of the carving is extraordinary, akin to the precious character assigned by Mesoamerican societies to compact-grained blue-green stones. It could be jadeite; accurate identification requires laboratory analysis such as spectroscopy and X-ray fluorescence to determine the mineralogical composition. Apart from this, the full symbiosis between the image, its material, symbolic function and utilitarian functioning stands out.
The diminutive height of both jewels does not exceed six centimeters; the general contour is rounded, flattened in the front view and with more volume in the back than the one shown from the front, such that it is closer to a head. As can be seen, this image has a frown and the characteristic broad nose of the feline. Apparently, it only shows the upper jaw with the everted lip and toothless gums, which is reminiscent of Olmec art, such as the basaltic stone sculpture in the shape of a humanized jaguar named Monument 52 in San Lorenzo, Veracruz and the jade “axe” that was collected by William Bullock and later acquired by the British Museum. However, the absence in our piece of stylistic characteristics such as the petal shape of the "axes," which not only consist of a face but also a body, as well as the lack of almond-shaped eyes and flaming eyebrows distance it from the Olmec cultural attribution. Hence, it is pertinent to consider that the representations of felines were abundant in Mesoamerican art and also that different societies manufactured lapidary objects to a greater or lesser extent.
On the same head, a very striking feature is the tiny pupil in the eye seen on the left, the outline of which was painstakingly ground down to make it stand out. Another fine detail is the cylindrical perforation that runs through the back of the head. Experimental studies of lapidary technology carried out by Reyna Beatriz Solís Ciriaco and Emiliano Ricardo Melgar indicate that openings of this type could be made with abrasives and wood drills.
These tiny perforations are another element that both pieces share; they were used to thread a cord and hang the images, perhaps as pendants from a necklace. The feline face in profile has two of these perforations at the back and to the sides. Comparatively, its appearance is less schematic with round ears and large upper and lower fangs, with the nose even curved upwards, which emphasizes, together with the simulation of folds around the jaws, the eye and the nose, the ferocity and the power of that sacral predatory species.
From their remote early phases, Mesoamerican societies linked fine green stones with the petrification of sacred waters; the location of the mines on the surface of the earth or in subterranean strata strengthens their aquatic symbolism, which, in turn, is related to cultural values assigned to species such as jaguars. Being skilled swimmers and nocturnal hunters, their habits are characteristics of the watery qualities that characterize the lower, dark, nocturnal, and germinal level of the cosmos.
Regardless of the representations, the material of which the two felid heads are made was a symbol of the precious, so these jewels condense meanings and would endow enormous prestige to those who wore them, much more so if the stones came from distant lands. Its symbolic and magical operation in certain religious or warlike functions is not ruled out.
Verónica Hernández Díaz
It can be conjectured that the two pieces of jewelry represent feline heads, a naturalistic profile view and a frontal view with modified features. The delicacy of the carving is extraordinary, akin to the precious character assigned by Mesoamerican societies to compact-grained blue-green stones. It could be jadeite; accurate identification requires laboratory analysis such as spectroscopy and X-ray fluorescence to determine the mineralogical composition. Apart from this, the full symbiosis between the image, its material, symbolic function and utilitarian functioning stands out.
