An Olmec Jade Mask
Mesoamerica, Circa 1000-600 B.C.
Height 6 inches (15 cm).

Provenance:
Estate of Robert V. Berg (1931-2018), La Mesa, California.
Art for Eternity, New York, 2018.
[accompanied with a Certificate of Authenticity from John R. Jordan]

Olmec stone masks are among the most important, rare and sought-after objects from ancient Mesoamerica. There are two categories of masks, either supernatural or human masks. These categories are further broken into types. Human masks are broadly categorized as portrait masks or as stylized masks. Most all masks come from the Olmec heartland of Veracruz and Tabasco in the Gulf Coast Lowlands and Olmec sites in the state of Guerrero in the Central Mexican Highlands.

This life-sized human mask is of the portrait type. Its naturalist features recall portraits of powerful Olmec rulers depicted on the Colossal Stone Heads of San Lorenzo and La Venta. While some human masks have no openings in the eyes, nostrils or mouths, this example is perforated and was most likely worn by an individual.

Robert "Bob" V. Berg was a professor at San Diego State University and a known collector of Ethnographic Art. A few of his pieces are documented in the Who's Who in Indian Relics series no. 10. and had a collection sale at Heritage Auctions, Texas on 8 July 2016.