mask
- Museum number
- Am1907,0608.1
- Description
-
Mask made of obsidian depicting a human face. Eyes, ears and mouth have insets into which other materials may once have been inlaid, earlobes are pierced with circular holes. Back is indented in a semi-circular shape with holes at the top corners. The back right corner (as seen from the front) is badly chipped.
- Dimensions
-
Height: 16 centimetres (From forehead to chin)
-
Width: 14.40 centimetres (From ear to ear)
-
Depth: 9 centimetres
- Curator's comments
- Jones 1990 (comment relating to registration nos. Am1938,1021.213 and Am1907,0608.1)
Aztec-style obsidian masks from Mexico
The Mexican archaeologist Leopoldo Batrés, writing on the subject of fake pre-Hispanic antiquities in 1910, said that there were so many high-quality falsified objects made of obsidian by that time that 'sometimes only a very expert eye can distinguish the fake'.
Obsidian, a volcanic 'glass', is not a difficult material to work and supplies of it are abundant in Mexico. In pre-Hispanic central Mexico it was the most important material for the manufacture of the tools of daily life -flaked blades, chipped points and scrapers - as well as weapons, mirrors, vessels and small carvings and ornaments. Objects made of obsidian are commonly offered for sale as antiquities in present-day Mexico, and forgeries in this material have continued in production from the nineteenth century onwards.
The late Gordon Ekholm, one of the foremost experts in the detection of Mesoamerican forgeries, has warned that all large objects of obsidian, especially masks, must be considered suspect. It is, indeed, hard to think of any large obsidian mask among the known body of antiquities from Mexico that is generally accepted as genuine. Masks are, however, among the most sought-after categories of object with collectors.
The two examples included here are almost certainly nineteenth- or early-twentieth-century fakes. The back of registration no. Am1938,1021.213, representing the Mexican rain-god Tlaloc, has been left as a polished wedge-shaped cut, a feature not consistent with the usual practice of pre-Hispanic lapidaries; this example, a mask of a man, resembles others illustrated by Batrés. Many such objects are to be found in European and North American collections. Batrés wrote that the Mexican National Museum had the 'richest collection of fake obsidian objects that exists in the world'. The techniques of their production, using petroleum and emery, are described by him and, as he concludes, many of the falsifications are 'marvels of art' in their workmanship.
- Location
- Not on display
- Acquisition date
- 1907
- Department
- Africa, Oceania and the Americas
- Registration number
- Am1907,0608.1