Standing Male Figure
Culture
Olmec
, Mexico
Date900–500 BCE
Mediumdark greenstone
Dimensions13.6 x 6 x 4.2 cm (5 3/8 x 2 3/8 x 1 5/8 in.)
ClassificationsSculpture
Credit LineMuseum Purchase
Object number1958.32
Label TextThis figure displays characteristic Olmec features: an oversized head, an elongated skull, slanting eyes, a wide nose, and thick lips curling upward. Scholars often consider these facial features as blending human with feline elements, likely to evoke supernatural entities. Here, incisions around the mouth of the figure—a rectangle with four points and circles at its corners—reinforce its possible mythological nature, as this carved motif might refer to the morning star which had a strong astrological, calendrical, and ritual significance in Mesoamerica.
Recent scholarship suggests that this object was carved out of a celt (smooth blade-like stone) that had been produced at an earlier time. The Olmecs only began sculpting figurines in greenstone during the Middle Formative period (900-500 B.C.E.).On View
Not on viewCollections
