a Fine Teotihuacan Stone Mask, Classic, ca. A.D. 450-650

the large gracefully carved ceremonial mask depicting the youthful and serene personage epitomizing the Teotihuacan ideal, with full parted lips, gently curved philtrum, aquiline nose and drilled nostrils, the heavy lidded eyes of even oval form inlaid with shell and resinous remains once holding pupil inlays, the slightly notched ears incised with step motif; drilled at the back of chin, center of the forehead, and four interior corners, in veined deep green and white stone.

Acquired in 1976

Gérald Berjonneau, Jean-Louis Sonnery and Emile Deletaille, Rediscovered Masterpieces of Mesoamerica, 1985, pl. 150

This mask's idealized beauty, massive yet balanced proportions and original shell inlay make it one of the finest examples of the masks of Teotihuacan- the greatest Mesoamerican metropolis of the Classic era. The influence of Teotihuacan from the 2nd -4th C.  in art, architecture, political and economic spheres was not surpassed till the growth of Tenochtitlan in the Aztec period. Aztec rulers made pilgrimages to the ancient city, recognizing it as a power center and home of cosmic mythology. In the Classic period Maya polities such as Tikal gain dominance after their alignment with Teotihuacan and the Central Mexican highlands. No doubt Teotihuacan art, and masks such as this, influenced Maya art towards using the human figure in stone sculpture as a palette for supernaturally charged rulers and deities. 

The masks were headstones for elaborately clothed effigies with the characteristic flattened top of the head and perforations used to support and attach the headdress and other accoutrements. Probably not created for funerary purposes,  the masked effigies were made for magnificent ceremonial events, and were empowered by the interaction of the ritual. Whether in promenades or revered in the inner chambers for high priests, they were the faces of eternal and absolute human spirit, enpowered by the interaction of ritual. Pasztory (1998) notes the "elegant abstraction" of Teotihuacan art;  that masks "are the faces of the people of Teotihuacan... they suggest both anonymity and multiplicity" (ibid:69).
Many masks were embellished with shell and stone inlay but few retained these elements which give a sensitive and lifelike impression. The iron and pyrite rich materials leave a slight staining to the surrounding eye lids. For two masks of similar style and proportion, see Berrin and Pasztory (1993: pl. 24), and Janssen Collection (2005: 74);  for two excavated masks showing remains of inlay, see Berrin and Pasztory (1993: pls. 25 and 185),  the latter a mask found at Templo Mayor in Tenochtitlan; also Moctezuma and Olguin (2003: cat. no. 11) for a mask with inlay eyes in the Arensberg Collection, Philadelphia Museum of Art.