Openwork Pendant

Unknown

10th–4th century BCE · Jade · Arts of Africa, Oceania, and the Americas

This jade pendant is carved with an axe-like profile and thinned into a translucent plaque. A drilled hole at the top of the pendant may have been used to suspend it as part of Olmec ritual regalia. Four parallel lines run the length of the pendant, made by a combination of drilling and string-sawing. An incised cruciform design, a motif common in Olmec art, probably references the cardinal directions.

Artist

Unknown

Date

10th–4th century BCE

Medium

Jade

Culture

Olmec

Department

Arts of Africa, Oceania, and the Americas

Credit line

Gift of Arthur M. Bullowa, 1989