Skip to main content

Fish effigy pectoral bead

900–550 B.C.
Object PlaceMexico
Medium/TechniqueJadeite: traces of red pigment
Dimensions12.06 x 7.62 x 2.54 cm (4 3/4 x 3 x 1 in.)
Credit LineGift of Landon T. Clay
Accession number1978.487
On View
On view
ClassificationsJewelry / Adornment
Collections
Description
This unusual pendant was owned by twentieth-century Mexican artist and scholar Miguel Covarrubias, one of the first to recognize the great antiquity of Olmec art.
ProvenanceSaid to have been excavated in Tobasco [see note 1]. Miguel Covarrubias (b. 1904 - d. 1957), Mexico City [see note 2]. 1973, Veracruzana, Inc., New York (stock no. V599); May 29, 1973, sold by Veracruzana to Landon T. Clay, Boston, 1978, gift of Landon T. Clay to the MFA. (Accession Date: December 13, 1978)

NOTES:
[1] According to the bill of sale from Veracruzana. [2] According to notes in the MFA curatorial file.
a-b
A.D. 250–850
Pair of earflares
A.D. 250–850
Cylinder vase
A.D. 680–780
a-b
A.D. 400–550
Group shot: 1988.1225a-b
A.D. 400–550
Cache vessel lid
A.D. 400–550
Human effigy head
500–200 B.C.
Human effigy head
200 B.C.–A.D. 100
A.D. 500–800
Bark beater?
A.D. 650–850
Cylinder vase
650–750 AD