An Olmec Seated Stone Figure, Middle Preclassic, ca. 900-600 B.C.

with proud and resolute expression, carved with minute details emblematic of supernatural references, the cheeks marked with two circles below an inverted bracket, possibly a rain and cloud symbol, the ears and nose drilled, and the coiffure a mix of shaved areas and incised plaits, wearing a striated skirt high on the torso pressing into the pectorals, bright orange pigment remaining in recessed areas; in lime green stone. 

Acquired in the 1960s

Standardized incised motifs are a key feature of important Olmec stone figures, serving as a type of hieroglyph, and adding ritual significance to the figure or object. The bracket and dot motif on the cheek is also seen on the headdress of one of the most elaborately adorned Olmec jades, the small seated ruler in the Dumbarton Oaks Collection who is associated with the maize god, see Benson and de la Fuente ed. (1996: pl. 52); and also on a celt, Joralemon (1971: fig. 85).