900-600 BCE Provenance: Veracruz Material: blue-green jadeite with white inclusions and traces of red pigment Dimensions: h. 12.7 cm.; w. 6.5 cm.; d. 2 cm. Private collection The upper motif incised on this celt consists of a deep cleft formed by two projecting arms with horizontal lines, two brackets, and a small diamond surrounded by four circles on the top and bottom of a hexagonal shape. Similar to the motif on the mosaic pave-ments of La Venta, where it was laid out with hundreds of serpentine blocks, it has been interpreted as an abstract representation of the Olmec Dragon. Below, a clover design with a central diamond and smaller ovoid shapes in each petal may correspond to the diamond shapes on the La Venta pavements, which F. Kent Reilly, III, has suggested may represent blossoming water lilies, part of the watery habitat of the Olmec Dragon.
Peter David Joralemon, "The Olmec Dragon: A Study in Pre-Columbian Iconography," in Origins of Religious Art and Iconography in Preclassic Mesoamerica, ed. Henry B. Nicholson (Los Angeles, 1976)
Coe, M. D., Princeton University. Art Museum, & Museum of Fine Arts, H. (1995). The Olmec world : ritual and rulership. Art Museum, Princeton University in association with Harry N. Abrams.
Incised Celt
900-600 BCE
Provenance: Veracruz
Material: blue-green jadeite with white inclusions and traces of red pigment
Dimensions: h. 12.7 cm.; w. 6.5 cm.; d. 2 cm.
Private collection
The upper motif incised on this celt consists of a deep cleft formed by two projecting arms with horizontal lines, two brackets, and a small diamond surrounded by four circles on the top and bottom of a hexagonal shape. Similar to the motif on the mosaic pave-ments of La Venta, where it was laid out with hundreds of serpentine blocks, it has been interpreted as an abstract representation of the Olmec Dragon. Below, a clover design with a central diamond and smaller ovoid shapes in each petal may correspond to the diamond shapes on the La Venta pavements, which F. Kent Reilly, III, has suggested may represent blossoming water lilies, part of the watery habitat of the Olmec Dragon.
Peter David Joralemon, "The Olmec Dragon: A Study in Pre-Columbian Iconography," in Origins of Religious Art and Iconography in Preclassic Mesoamerica, ed. Henry B. Nicholson (Los Angeles, 1976)
Coe, M. D., Princeton University. Art Museum, & Museum of Fine Arts, H. (1995). The Olmec world : ritual and rulership. Art Museum, Princeton University in association with Harry N. Abrams.