Engraved jade gorget / Mesoamerican

Essay/Description

Engraved jade gorget.

Gorgets are thought to be insignia of office or status. Those with double or more holes may have been attached to clothing, or suspended from the neck as a necklace and worn as personal adornment.

You may be interested in...

Shell pendant

Grooved and polished obsidian labret or lip plug with a small inset space

Jade human face effigy pendant

Anthropology Item Information

©Gilcrease Museum

Title(s):

Engraved jade gorget

Culture:

Mesoamerican

Date:

Unknown

Period:

Mesoamerican Prehistoric

Place:

Oaxaca, México

Materials/Techniques:

jade

Classification:

Archaeological Objects

Object Type:

Gorget

Accession No:

55.154

Department:

Anthropology

Collection:

Kravis Discovery Center

Not On View

Dimensions

Overall:

Height: 0 43/100in. (1.1cm)
Width: 1 1/2in. (3.8cm)
Length: 2 2/25in. (5.3cm)

Tags and Search Terms

Tags:

adornment, Art, effigies, effigy, effigys, gorget, jade, jewelry, Kravis Discovery Center, Mesoamerica, Mexican, México, Oaxaca, Precolumbian, Pre-Columbian, prehistoric, sculpture

The Maya greatly valued jade and wore it as a symbol of wealth and fertility. Typically only the wealthiest people, particularly kings, wore and were buried wearing jade. Jade’s color “was associated with the Maize God and evoked his eternal youth and vigor” (Meisler 2004).

» View All

Cite this Page

Engraved jade gorget. 55.154. Kravis Discovery Center. Unknown. Tulsa: Gilcrease Museum, https://collections.gilcrease.org/object/55154 (05/25/2017).

Our Online Collections site is a work in progress. If you have information about this item that may be of assistance, please contact us.

Gilcrease Museum is temporarily closed for construction.

Gilcrease Museum

The World’s Largest Collection of Art and Artifacts of the American West