Seated ruler in ritual pose
Mexico, state of Puebla, San Martín Texmelucan, Highland Olmec culture
c. 900–500 B.C.
Serpentine and cinnabar
7 7/32 x 5 3/8 x 3 1/16 in. (18.34 x 13.65 x 7.78 cm)
Gift of Mrs. Eugene McDermott, The Roberta Coke Camp Fund, and The Art Museum League Fund, 1983.50

About 900 B.C., jadeite and other varieties of greenstone acquired political significance for the Olmec elite and replaced clay as the preferred material for precious, small-scale objects that conveyed the Olmec symbol system. More difficult to obtain and to work than clay, jadeite and other greenstones derived ideological value from their color, which was associated with water, maize, vegetation, sky, and life. As one of several objects deposited in a burial cache, a greenstone figure such as this may have signified the renewal of life, especially when it was coated with cinnabar, a mineral whose red color represented the life force of blood.

This small sculpture embodies the consummate ability of Olmec sculptors to achieve monumentality even on a small scale. The economy with which the figure is realized emphasizes the gesture of the self-contained pose, which unites arms, upraised knee, and touching feet. Incised vertical and horizontal lines indicate a loincloth. The head is the focus of more specific detail: elongation above the headband (especially apparent in profile) indicates cranial deformation; the eyes, downturned at the outer corners, the narrow nose with flared nostrils, and the downturned corners of the trapezoidal mouth are quintessentially Olmec. Delicately incised motifs on the right side of the face (scarcely visible without magnification) include a rectilinear double scroll that Olmec scholar Peter David Joralemon has identified on several other jadeite and serpentine objects with similar features. This distinctive symbol may be associated with a specific person, perhaps a ruler—the Lord of the Double Scroll.