Description:

Pre-Columbian, Guatemala, Maya, Late Classic Period, ca. 550 to 900 CE; Mexico, Aztec Empire, ca. 1400 to 1521 CE. A collection of 3 greenstone and jade beads and a rare stone rattlesnake amulet. The Maya omphacite jade tubular and spherical bead were both likely used for securing an earspool and the other spherical bead is a white mineral encrusted greenstone that may have also functioned as an earspool adornment or pendant. The Aztec amulet is carved from volcanic stone as an adorable but symbolically protective rattlesnake effigy. The rattle is low relief caved with incised lines on the verso, and the rounded head and forked tongue are endearingly simplified on the obverse- as if this baby is poking out from an egg! Rattlesnake venom, skin, and rattles were used by shamans throughout the Americas and numerous Mesoamerican deities and spirits were embodied by serpents such as Quetzalcoatl, Xiuhcoatl, and Kukulkan. Size (snake amulet): 1.25" Diameter x 0.6" W (3.2 cm x 1.5 cm)

Provenance: private Kansas, USA collection, acquired via descent from family in Jalisco, Mexico ca. the 1940s, and imported into the US in the 1970s and 1980s

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#171536

  • Condition: Heavy white mineral encrustations on greenstone bead. Small chips to jade beads, but intact and very good. Rattlesnake amulet is intact with minor surface nicks and some softening to details, but otherwise intact and adorable.

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May 12, 2022 8:00 AM MDT
Louisville, CO, US

Artemis Fine Arts

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