Pendant in the form of a human head wearing a duck bill mask
900–600 B.C.E.
Middle Preclassic
Olmec
This carving of a human head wearing a duck bill mask is pierced through the sides of the head to be worn as a pendant. The turbanlike headdress, arranged in receding, diagonal rows flanking a band of concentric inverted chevrons, is separated from the face by a soft groove, which, since it is unpolished, may have been wound with additional decoration. Almost certainly originally inlaid, the large oval eyes slope to the finely-shaped nose, providing a fluid transition to the duck bill. The curved, raised edge that conforms to the shape of the face is echoed by incised lines that converge on the raised spine of the bill. As a creature of the land, water, and sky of the natural world, the duck is often represented in ritual objects. The pendant perhaps depicts a shaman wearing the mask of his animal spirit companion. (after The Olmec World, p. 266)
Princeton University Art Museum