2008.87 Head-form pendant (Mixtec, Mexico) | DMA Staging Content Management System

GENERAL DESCRIPTION

Mixtec artisans were famous for their extraordinarily refined miniature carvings made in a variety of materials, creating objects of virtually perfect design and workmanship. Though not the first metal workers in the Americas, the Mixtecs were among the greatest. Smaller decorative ornaments were part of the larger elaborate costume accoutrements for nobility—often worn on the face, forehead, and chest—and projected both elite status and supernatural power. This cast copper pendant with frontal face would have originally been suspended from a necklace by the fixture at the top of the head. The figure's animal-like facial features may represent a monkey or other creature. Objects such as these often accompanied the king and other nobility on the journey through death to the otherworld.

Elaine Higgins Smith, Digital Collections Content Coordinator, 2016.

Drawn from

Carol Robbins, Label text [1968.20], A. H. Meadows Galleries, 2010.
Kathy Windrow, DMA unpublished material, 1992.
DMA unpublished material, 2009.
Getty Vocabulary, AAT (pendants (jewelry): AAT: 300046002).

NOTES

Mixtec, Postclassic period, 900–1520 C.E., updated by KJones in TMS on 06/19/14 AND 02/26/16.
Part of same accession (2008.74-90); share 1 object file (2 folders); 2008.87 has individual TMS object record.
General Description drawn from: DMA unpublished material [TMS (1973.47; 1970.22.a-b; 1985.150; 1985.151; 1985.152), Notes/Curatorial Remarks, Kathy Windrow, September 1992; TMS (1985.150; 1985.151; 1985.152), Acquisition Justification, April 20, 2009].

Catalogue essays

Artist/designers

Cultures

Mixtec

Pre-Columbian (American): AAT: 300016619

Mixtec: AAT: 300017180

Geography

Mesoamerica

Mexico (nation): TGN: 7005560

Process/materials

copper (metal): AAT: 300011020

copper alloy: AAT: 300010942

casting (process): AAT: 300053104

annealing: AAT: 300053886

chasing (metalworking): AAT: 300054016

embossing (technique): AAT: 300053826

repoussé: AAT: 300054023

solder: AAT: 300010993

sheet metal: AAT: 300223016

metalwork: AAT: 300015336

hammering (metal finishing): AAT: 300054098

Historical periods

Postclassic (Mesoamerican period): AAT: 300016987

Late Postclassic: AAT: 300134119

Individuals

Subject terms

worn costume accessories: AAT: 300209274

jewelry: AAT: 300209286

pendants (jewelry): AAT: 300046002

green (color): AAT: 300128438

figures: AAT: 300189808

head: AAT: 300262520

faces (animal or human components): AAT: 300251798

face: DMA

monkeys (animals): AAT: 300250028

underworld (doctrinal concept): AAT: 300343823

power: AAT: 300374809

social status: AAT: 300065206

nobility (nobles / aristocracy): AAT: 300025942

RELATED OBJECTS

PROVENANCE

Until d. 2007: Jerry L. Abramson (d. 2007), Dallas [1], [2], [3]

From 2008: Dallas Museum of Art, given in memory of Jerry L. Abramson by his estate [1], [2], [3]

[1] The main source for this provenance is letter from Bonnie Pitman, Director of the Dallas Museum of Art, to Thomas E. Rosen, Executor, estate of Jerry L. Abramson (dated December 22, 2008, copy in Dallas Museum of Art Collections Records Object File). Exceptions and other supporting documents are noted.

[2] The main source for this provenance is receipt and release form signed by Bonnie Pitman, Director of the Dallas Museum of Art, and Thomas E. Rosen, Executor, estate of Jerry L. Abramson (dated January 30, 2009, copy in Dallas Museum of Art Collections Records Object File). Exceptions and other supporting documents are noted.

[3] The main source for this provenance is Deed of Gift from estate of Jerry L. Abramson (dated January 30, 2009, copy in Dallas Museum of Art Collections Records Object File). Exceptions and other supporting documents are noted.

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Apply to objects where number equals 2008.87

General Description

Mixtec artisans were famous for their extraordinarily refined miniature carvings made in a variety of materials, creating objects of virtually perfect design and workmanship. Though not the first metal workers in the Americas, the Mixtecs were among the greatest. Smaller decorative ornaments were part of the larger elaborate costume accoutrements for nobility—often worn on the face, forehead, and chest—and projected both elite status and supernatural power. This cast copper pendant with frontal face would have originally been suspended from a necklace by the fixture at the top of the head. The figure's animal-like facial features may represent a monkey or other creature. Objects such as these often accompanied the king and other nobility on the journey through death to the otherworld.