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Home > Art > Mezcala Temple

Mezcala Temple

Stone sculpture of two columns joined by a set of stairs leading forward.
Artist

Unknown Artist

Date

200 BCE–500 CE

Medium

Unidentified polished green stone

Object Type

Sculpture

Dimensions

H- 3 7/8 x W- 2 1/2 x D- 1/3 in. (9.9 x 6.4 x 1 cm)

Collecting Area

Pre-Columbian

Credit Line

The Jan T. and Marica Vilcek Collection

Accession Number

2007.10.1

Copyright

© The Vilcek Foundation

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architecture Mezcala sculpture stone Temple
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Stone sculpture of two columns joined by a set of stairs leading forward.

About the Object

The stone representation seen here, carved and polished from mottled green and brown stone, depicts what is often considered by scholars to be a temple or architectural model. This temple has four stairs ascending to where two columns rest upon a platform that in turn supports another platform. It is then capped with stone that juts out above the higher platform. This last element of the temple may have been planned to be carved into an abstract figure of a human being, like other models, or depict a particular location known among the Mezcala.

 

Additional Information

The Mezcala tradition of fashioning temple or architectural models endured for over 1,000 years, originating around 500 BCE. Materials like jade may have been used ritually, acting as a means of exchange similar to money among elites, associated with burials and fertility, and have originated from reworking stone tools or ritual representations of objects that were believed to be invested with great spiritual power.

[Throckmorton Fine Art, New York, NY];

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