Posted on 10/09/2011 7:15:04 PM PDT by big bad easter bunny
I am not an expert.
But I have and do collect Mexican art although no ancient art. I have collected for almost 50 years. All of my furniture has benn brought up from Mexico [mostly Zacatecas], and I collect Mexican fine art [modern].
I have collect Mexican folk art since a teenager and was the manager of a large Mexican folk art store.
I buy old Mexican masks on eBay that cost more than your old “death mask”.
That’s exactly what I was afraid of!
Dont know anything about it, it is real nice, that I can tell you.
Haha ...
Looks vaguely Olmecan because of the mouth design (the famous jaguar mouth), but even there it is loose and uneven. Really hard to say with anything based on a photo and not an experts opinion.
I think it is Ed Asner, but I can’t be sure!
7” high, 5.5” wide? Awfully tiny people. The low starting bid, the incredibly low shipping price, and the lack of demonstrated knowledge about the item leads me to strongly urge staying as far away from it as possible, unless you personally really like it for a piece of decorative art.
Check for a pulse. No pulse? Check for eye holes. Eye holes? Death mask. ;’)
Given the dimensions, it can’t be a death mask. It’s probably 20th century, and manufactured in the Orient. Of course, I have no credentials or expertise in Mayan art, so...
Note the detail work on authentic Precolumbian artifacts (some of these examples, for instance):
http://www.google.com/images?q=guatemalan+jade&sa=X&oi=image_result_group
I was thinking Andy Rooney, but the eyebrows are all wrong.
Someone should bring it down to Zuccotti Park. Either it would clear the place out or they’d start bringing offerings to it.
But you are in the right time zone.
And according to this museum website, there's a similar Olmec piece, also about 7" high, with similar indents as well, also made out of jadeite.
So, could indeed be a valid artifact, but still all the warning bells are going off.
lived and collected in mayan mexico near the guatemalan border for almost twenty years...provenance is everything...if you don’t know anything about its origins i would suspect this mask is likely a reproduction. The museum-quality jade masks are a much finer grade and brighter color than this stone...skilled craftsmen in oaxaca have been “discovering” these in “tombs” near monte alban for a century and strangely, they often come from diverse cultures from aztec to mayan!
lived and collected in mayan mexico near the guatemalan border for almost twenty years...provenance is everything...if you don’t know anything about its origins i would suspect this mask is likely a reproduction. The museum-quality jade masks are a much finer grade and brighter color than this stone...skilled craftsmen in oaxaca have been “discovering” these in “tombs” near monte alban for a century and strangely, they often come from diverse cultures from aztec to mayan!
LOL!
lived and collected in mayan mexico near the guatemalan border for almost twenty years...provenance is everything...if you don’t know anything about its origins i would suspect this mask is likely a reproduction. The museum-quality jade masks are a much finer grade and brighter color than this stone...skilled craftsmen in oaxaca have been “discovering” these in “tombs” near monte alban for a century and strangely, they often come from diverse cultures from aztec to mayan!
LOL!
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.