Admission is Free | Open Wed–Sun
Not Currently On View in Intersections
Object Name: Figure
Artist: Unknown
Culture: Olmec
Place of Origin: Central Mexico
Date/Era: Pre-Classic, 1000 – 500 B.C.E.
Medium/Materials: Jade
Dimensions: H: 18.0 cm, W: 7.5 cm, D: 3.0 cm (H: 7.1 in, W: 2.9 in, D: 1.2 in)
Credit Line: Fowler Museum at UCLA. Gift of Mr. Harry M. Brittenham.
Accession Number: X85.864
Arts identified as Olmec have been found in present-day Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador, and Nicaragua, and they range in size from portable carvings to monumental sculptures. Many artists chose to carve figures, masks, and other smaller objects in a variety of hard greenish stone, including jadeite and serpentine, which were valued for their strength, color, and translucence.
Source: Gallery text, Intersections: World Arts, Local Lives, 2006.
See also: Marla C. Berns, World Arts, Local Lives: The Collections of the Fowler Museum at UCLA. Fowler Museum, Los Angeles, 2014.