Pre-Columbian Mezcala Guerrero Serpentine Stone Masket

From the Balsas River region of Guerrero, Mexico, dating to the Late Preclassic through Early Classic period (c. 300 BCE – 300 CE).

The mask is executed in a beautifully variegated grey-green metavolcanic stone with dramatic black mineral inclusions and natural pale veining — a hallmark material of the ancient Mezcala lapidary tradition.

The mask exhibits the spare, geometric abstraction for which Mezcala stonework is celebrated: a flat, escutcheon-shaped face with gently bevelled lateral planes, stepped temples, a long straight nose carved in low relief, and minimal indications of eyes and mouth. The piece corresponds to the classic M-type mas in Carlo Gay's typology — the same reductive aesthetic that captivated 20th-century modernists from Henry Moore to Diego Rivera, who famously assembled one of the great Mezcala collections. A single drilled & suspension perforation at the upper edge indicates use as a pectoral, funerary offering, or shrine ornament.

Carved from a hardstone of the serpentine / metavolcanic family native to the Balsas River drainage of Guerrero, with a softly polished surface, mineral pitting, and natural patination consistent with approximately two millennia of age. A stable, ancient age fissure traverses the upper face — entirely characteristic of stones recovered from burial deposits.

Provenance

Old collection tag "22" affixed to the reverse, indicating prior provenance which is a Private Mercer Island WA collection inherited by descent from Ruth Goldwyn Capps & Henry McClure Capps (known as Mac) who was an art director and production designer for TV & films in the mid-1950s.

Condition Excellent intact ancient condition,  nicks and surface pitting consistent with age and burial deposition. Suspension hole intact.

Dimensions: Mask: 3.5 inches (8.9cm) H + mounted on a custom black metal armature and base. 

Mezcala stone sculpture is among the most modern-looking of all ancient art — its geometric abstraction predates 20th-century Cubism by two thousand years, and authentic examples are held in major collections including the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Museo Nacional de Antropología (Mexico City), and the Dumbarton Oaks Pre-Columbian collection.