Architectural Fragment
- Artist Culture
- Teotihuacan
- Period
- Early Classic period, 250 BC–AD 600
- Date
- c.400–550
- Material
- Pumice
- made in
- Mexico state, Mexico, North and Central America
- Classification
- Architectural elements, stone & mineral
- Current Location
- On View, Gallery 114
- Dimensions
- 12 1/8 x 14 15/16 x 5 1/16 in. (30.8 x 38 x 12.8 cm)
- Credit Line
- Gift of Morton D. May
- Rights
- Contact Us
- Object Number
- 217:1978
NOTES
This simple face, rendered with two holes for eyes and one for the mouth, may have adorned a wall or doorway in a Teotihuacan dwelling. The reddish pumice would have been relatively easy to carve, so the minimal treatment suggests a deliberate and specific representation. The identity of the face remains a mystery; it is known to scholars as the Mask God. A few similar monuments exist, and small ceramic figurines with minimal faces are known. The abstraction of the face appealed to a 20th-century aesthetic; this piece was originally collected by Julius Carlebach, a dealer who also specialized in modern art.