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.

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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).

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Cite this Page

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

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