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Were-Jaguar with Half-Mask
Olmec, Mexico, ca.150 B.C.A.D. 250
Ceramic jar. 12 x 7 1/2 x 9 1/2 in. (30.5 x 19.0 x 24.1 cm)
Membership Purchase Fund. 73.13.4
Were-Jaguars, half-human and half-jaguar creatures, were depicted in
much of Olmec art. It is thought that shamans or shaman-kings were equated
with jaguars in early Mesoamerica, much as they are today in some parts
of Mexico and South America. The supernatural jaguar of the Olmec seems
to have been associated with rain and fertility. The Great Jaguar, king
of beasts in the jungles of Central America, was thus the ancestor of the
royal human lineage through his role as rain-deity.
The shaman's transformation into a jaguar through his wearing of the skin
of the beast is represented on this Olmec ceramic vessel, from Veracruz.
His mask, with lolling tongue and pointed fang, clearly only covers half
his face, showing that he is in the process of change. This hollow vessel
may have been used to contain a potent hallucinogenic liquid made from plants
that helped the shaman enter a trance and complete his transformation. The
personage represented on the vessel might also have been noble. He wears
ornate ear-pendants and a woven loincloth with a jade pendant suspended
from its bottom point. |
