Jade Face Masks
Another type of artifact is much smaller; hardstone carvings in jade of a face in a mask form. Curators and scholars refer to "Olmec-style" face masks but, to date, no example has been recovered in an archaeologically controlled Olmec context. They have been recovered from sites of other cultures, including one deliberately deposited in the ceremonial precinct of Tenochtitlan (Mexico City). The mask would presumably have been about 2,000 years old when the Aztec buried it, suggesting such masks were valued and collected as Roman antiquities were in Europe.
Famous quotes containing the words jade, face and/or masks:
“Do not pray for gold and jade and precious things; pray that your children and grandchildren may all be good.”
—Chinese proverb.
“When I read a story, I relive the moment from which it sprang. A scene burned itself into me, a building magnetized me, a mood or season of Nature’s penetrated me, history suddenly appeared to me in some tiny act, or a face had begun to haunt me before I glanced at it.”
—Elizabeth Bowen (1899–1973)
“Life will show you masks that are worth all of your carnivals.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)