A RARE OLMEC STONE SCEPTER

MIDDLE PRECLASSIC, CA. 1150-550 B.C.

Details

A RARE OLMEC STONE SCEPTER
Middle Preclassic, ca. 1150-550 B.C.
A fragment of columnar shape carved with the ferocious visage of God I, the Dragon God, associated with the earth, fire and water, the prototypical features consisting of a foreshortened chin, open, downturned mouth with fleshy upper lip, bared fangs projecting from the upper jaw, wide flattened nose, cheeks finely incised with narrow panels of geometric motifs (?) and with lunate sunken eyes surmounted by 'flame-brows', a symbolic maize plant emanating from the forehead further decorated with a medallion; in brown stone with areas of red cinnabar.
Height 7 in. (17.5 cm.)

Lot Essay

Ceremonial scepters are the most apparent insignia of rulership, the ultimate symbol of authority. The weighty baton might have been carried horizontally as an 'offering bundle', see Olmec Art, pl. 117.
Such Olmec figural ceremonial scepters are extremely rare, for one other extant example see Joralemon, fig. 10p.
Cf. Olmec Art, pl. 104, for a smaller version.

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