Jade Mask of the Bat God
About 100 BC to 200
Twenty five pieces of polished green jade fit together into the face of a bat, with round shell eyes, a wrinkled snout and a mouth showing fangs. Below the face hang jade plaques and small beads that once formed a pectoral, so the object was worn on the chest rather than over the face. The bat was a powerful creature for the Zapotec of Oaxaca: an animal of caves and the night, associated with maize, fertility, death and the underworld. Wearing this mask, a priest or ruler took on its aspect.
The workmanship is extraordinary for its date, more than two thousand years ago. Each piece of jade was cut, shaped and drilled without metal tools, then fitted so that the joins follow the contours of the face: the brow ridge, the cheeks, the folds of the nose. Look at the way the ears are carved as separate leaves and at the tiny holes through which the pieces were strung together on cords. The material was probably imported from the Motagua valley in what is now Guatemala, hundreds of kilometres away, which shows how far Zapotec trade reached.
The mask was found at Monte Alban, the hilltop city above Oaxaca that was the Zapotec capital for over a thousand years, and belongs to the period the archaeologists call Monte Alban Two. It was excavated in the mid twentieth century and became one of the emblems of the Oaxaca hall when the museum opened. It was among the objects stolen in nineteen eighty five and recovered in nineteen eighty nine. Look also at the ceramic urns of gods nearby, which show the same taste for masks and transformation.
Did You Know? The mask was strung together on cords rather than glued, so it could flex slightly against the chest of the person who wore it.
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