In the Olmec culture the mask was considered an
icon of transformation. It makes visible the
charismatic and shamanic power of the wearer;
who was either a ruler or shaman. Often the
mask has an expression of an otherworldly
nature, as if submerged in an ecstatic trance. A
mask will never change, it is unaffected by
emotion or time, and will forever express the
virtues the sculptor endowed upon it. This
quality of the eternal appealed to Olmec rulers.
The sheer power of this stone mask is
monumental in scope. There is a sense it is a
product of nature, elemental and beyond
comprehension. Yet, a very skilled sculptor was
needed to carve the intricate designs. These
abstract patterns give the face a reptilian or
snake-like quality. Snakes were an important
feature in Olmec religion. The rainmaking rites
performed by Olmec shamans involved using live
rattlesnakes or arboreal fer-de-lances. Perhaps
masks such as this one were part of ritual
ceremonies and worn by the priests or hung on
poles. This is not difficult to imagine given its
almost primordial character, which seems to
come from another dimension. In many respects
the Olmec themselves seem not to have been of
this world; and objects such as this extraordinary
mask appear as living proof.
- (PF.4634)
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