**First Time At Auction**

Pre-Columbian, Maya Territories, ca. 200 to 900 CE. A pair of jadeite earspools / ear plugs, each with a flared, flattened ovoid trumpet shape that, based on their sizes, would have been worn by an older youth. The slightly larger one is blue-green jade, while the smaller is a deeper, more rainforest green. Jade was revered by the Maya not only for its beauty, but also because it had spiritual power - it was believed to be the embodiment of the wind and the "breath" that formed the Maya soul. Ear spools like these are often shown in profile in Mayan art, usually with a bead or serpent emerging from that central hollow plug; this is interpreted to be a symbolic supernatural passageway for the breath of the soul to travel through. Size of largest (they are very similar in size): 1.25" W x 0.4" H (3.2 cm x 1 cm)

Ear spools like these were probably heirlooms, their jade and style associated by the Maya with the older cultures before them, specifically the Olmec, and seem to have been passed down through families for centuries. In that sense, they may also have been seen as a way to communicate with the ancestors.

Provenance: private Vaught collection, Atlanta, Georgia, USA

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#125643

Both are intact, with handwritten accession information in white ink on their bases.