Skip to Content
 
Showing 32 of 33


Mosaic Mask


Maya, Late Postclassic
1200-1520 CE
13.65 cm x 13.34 cm x 8.26 cm (5 3/8 in. x 5 1/4 in. x 3 1/4 in.)
wood and stone
PC.B.557

On view


Permalink: http://museum.doaks.org/objects-1/info/22723

Keywords
This object has the following keywords:
  • Anthropomorphic
  • Masks
  • Mayas
  • mosaics - Images or patterns composed of small, regularly shaped pieces of durable material, usually stone or colored glass. Distinguished from "opus sectile," which is composed of individually shaped pieces of durable material, usually stone or glass, which conform to the design or pattern.

Additional Images

Bibliography
2012 Museum News. Tribal Art: Quarterly Journal of the Art, Culture, and History of Traditional Peoples and New World Civilizations (66). p. 62, advertisement for DO exhibit All Sides Considered.

Alcina Franch, José 1978 L'art Précolombien. L'art Et Les Grandes Civilisations 8. L. Mazenod, Paris. p. 387, fig. 278.

Alcina Franch, José 1979 Die Kunst Des Alten Amerika. Grosse Epochen Der Weltkunst. Ars Antiqua. Herder, Freiburg. p. 387, fig. 278.

Alcina Franch, José 1983 Pre-Columbian Art. Abrams, New York. p. 387, fig. 278.

Anonymous 1984 The Smuggling Business: The Mysterious Mayan Mask. The Weekly Sun VII (30):36. p. 36.

Benson, Elizabeth P. 1969 Supplement to the Handbook of the Robert Woods Bliss Collection of Pre-Columbian Art. Dumbarton Oaks, Trustees for Harvard University, Washington, D. C., p. 14, cat. 449.

Chiappelli, Fredi, Michael J. B. Allen and Robert L. Benson (EDS.) 1976 First Images of America: The Impact of the New World on the Old. University of California Press, Berkeley.

Coggins, Clemency Chase 1996 Ética De La Adquisición Arqueológica. Arqueología mexicana 4 (21):34-39. p. 38.

Fields, Virginia M., John M. D. Pohl and Victoria Lyall 2012 Children of the Plumed Serpent: The Legacy of Quetzalcoatl in Ancient Mexico. Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles. p. 215, 232, cat. 184.

Gallenkamp, Charles 1976 Maya: The Riddle and Rediscovery of a Lost Civilization. Revised ed. D. McKay Co., New York. pl. plate between pp.128 and 129.

Gallenkamp, Charles 1981 Maya: The Riddle and Rediscovery of a Lost Civilization. Penguin Books, New York. plate between pp. 86, 87.

Gallenkamp, Charles 1985 Maya: The Riddle and Rediscovery of a Lost Civilization. 3rd ed. Viking, New York. pl. 112.

Izeki, Mutsumi 2008 Conceptualization of 'Xihuitl': History, Environment and Cultural Dynamics in Postclassic Mexica Cognition. Bar International Series; 1863. Archaeopress, Oxford. p. 132, cat. 1.1.33.

Lebrun, David 2008 Breaking the Maya Code, pp. 1 videodisc (116 min.). First Run Features, New York.

McEwan, Colin, Andrew Middleton, Caroline Cartwright and Rebecca Stacey 2006 Turquoise Mosaics from Mexico. The British Museum Press, London. p. 18, fig. 14.

Meyer, Karl Ernest 1973 The Plundered Past. 1st ed. Atheneum, New York. p. 12-21.

Pillsbury, Joanne, Miriam Doutriaux, Reiko Ishihara-Brito and Alexandre Tokovinine (EDS.) 2012 Ancient Maya Art at Dumbarton Oaks. Pre-Columbian Art at Dumbarton Oaks, Number 4. Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection, Washington, D.C., p. 464-474, pl. 87, fig. 273-274, 277-283.

Randel, Walter 1966 Master in the Art News. Art News November:20. p. 20.

Sharp, Rosemary 1981 Chacs and Chiefs: The Iconology of Mosaic Stone Sculpture in Pre-Conquest Yucatán, Mexico. Studies in Pre-Columbian Art and Archaeology, 24. Dumbarton Oaks, Trustees for Harvard University, Washington, D.C., fig. 22.

Thompson, J. Eric S. 1975 Grolier Codex. In Studies in Ancient Mesoamerica, John A. Graham, ed., pp. 1-9. vol. 2. University of California, Berkeley, Department of Anthropology, Berkeley. p. 1.

Von Winning, Hasso 1968 Pre-Columbian Art of Mexico and Central America. H.N. Abrams, New York. pl. 333.


Related:

Chiappelli, Fredi, Michael J. B. Allen and Robert L. Benson (EDS.) 1976 First Images of America: The Impact of the New World on the Old. 1. University of California Press, Berkeley. p. 458-460, fig. 33-34.

Harbottle, Garman and Phil C. Weigand 1992 Turquoise in Pre-Columbian America. Scientific American February:78-85.

Ichikawa, Shoichi 1931 The Maya of Middle America, Part Iii: Restoration of the Turquoise Mosaic Plaque. News Service Bulletin, School Edition (Carnegie Institution of Washington) II (19):129-132.




Exhibition History
"Trade and Artistry: Making a Maya Mosaic Mask", Dumbarton Oaks, Washington DC, 10/7/2010 to 11/15/2010.

"All Sides Considered: New Research on the Maya Collection", Dumbarton Oaks, Washington DC, 9/8/2012 to 6/2/2013.

"75 Years/75 Objects", Dumbarton Oaks, Washington DC, 9/8/2015 to 5/22/2016.


Acquisition History
Formerly in the collection of Mr. Josué Sáenz, Mexico (collector), 1966.

Purchased from Alphonse Jax, New York (dealer), by Dumbarton Oaks, 1966.

Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection, Pre-Columbian Collection, Washington, DC.


Related Objects

Object Last Modified: 5/25/2023