Olmec Stone Figure with Sceptre

Private Collection

Acquired by the family of the present owner in December, 1971

Michael D. Coe, ed., The Olmec World: Ritual and Rulership, Princeton, 1996, p. 245, fig. 144

Princeton University Art Museum, Princeton, The Olmec World, Ritual and Rulership, December 16, 1995 - February 25, 1996; additional venues:

The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, April 14 - June 9, 1996

One of the most significant ritual gestures shown by figures from the Preclassic through to the Late Classic era, is the presentation or lifting of a scepter or ceremonial bar. This small muscular figure with a steady and slightly strained expression, carries the massive scepter across his chest. The crosshatched markings may represent a binding on the staff. The figure has carefully drilled earlobes for ornaments and a distinct depression above the upper lip perhaps for an inlay nose bead.

Cf. For other figures holding a staff or in this ritual posture, see Michael D. Coe, ed., The Olmec World: Ritual and Rulership, Princeton, 1996, p. 246, cat. nos. 146 and 147; p. 247, fig. 2.