The Americas · c. 1500 BCE – today

Mesoamerican jade & stone pendants

Meaning

Green stone (jadeite, serpentine) meant maize, water, breath and life in Mesoamerica. Olmec axe-gods and spoons, Maya jade heads and plaques, Mezcala figures and Costa Rican 'axe gods' carried the power of ancestors, rulers and gods.

Intent

Rulers wore jade as a sign of divine kingship. At death a jade bead was placed in the mouth to hold the breath-soul, as with the jade mask of Pakal of Palenque (683 CE). Jade was also offered in caches and cenotes.

Significance

Jade was more precious than gold in Mesoamerica. The Olmec style created the earliest widespread art of the region, and jade heirlooms were passed down and re-carved over centuries.

History

Olmec jade dates from c. 1200–400 BCE, Maya jade flourishes in the Classic period (250–900 CE), and Mezcala figures date from c. 300 BCE–600 CE. Costa Rican jade dates from c. 500 BCE–700 CE.

Making yours

3–15 cm jadeite, serpentine or greenstone, string-sawn and drilled with tubular drills.

The Americas: the tradition

In the Americas, protective and power objects belonged to the relationship between people, ancestors, animals and the land. Andean herders kept stone illas for the fertility of their flocks, Mesoamerican rulers wore green jade as breath and maize, Isthmian goldsmiths cast animal spirit-helpers, and Arctic and Northwest Coast shamans carried carved spirit charms. Catholicism, arriving from 1492, brought saints, milagros and the Iberian evil-eye tradition, which fused with Indigenous and African belief into new forms such as Ekeko, the Afro-Brazilian balangandã and Santería. Many Indigenous objects are sacred and some communities ask that they not be displayed or copied; the Zuni, for example, distinguish sacred fetishes from carvings made for sale.

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Anything in the gallery can be made: any piece, any tradition, in its own material or yours, by hand from the documented original. Numbered. Price on commission, quoted before anything is made. I reply within one business day.