Tlatilco
Maskette
Tlatilco, 900-500
Physical Qualities
Earthenware, yellow and red pigment, 4 3/4 in. (12 cm.)
Credit Line
Gift of Bernice Barth, Los Angeles
Object Number
2004.229
Tlatilco artists are widely recognized for maskettes which bear a range of facial features and expressions. These diminutive masks were suspended over the nose, mouth, and chin of figural sculpture. Modernist Diego Rivera has long been considered one of the greatest proponents and collectors of Tlatilco art. For Rivera, Tlatilco artists had "attained a degree of character and imagination higher than the Maya."
The Baltimore Museum of Art by gift, 2004; Bernice Barth, Los Angeles
According to Barth, her husband Arthur purchased the object in Los Angeles from Bob Lindsley in 1960, 10 years prior to federal import restrictions (e.g., UNESCO 1970). It is my observation that the maskette conforms to the style and technology of comparable Tlatilco maskettes of known authenticity.
According to Barth, her husband Arthur purchased the object in Los Angeles from Bob Lindsley in 1960, 10 years prior to federal import restrictions (e.g., UNESCO 1970). It is my observation that the maskette conforms to the style and technology of comparable Tlatilco maskettes of known authenticity.
