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@patrickkapty.bsky.social Oct 7, 2026, 6:45 PM

Storm God Mosaic Mask
jade, shell, wooden base
c. 200-600 CE
Maya culture
Guatemala

#handmade #precolumbian #carved #jade #shell #wood #mosaic #mask #stormgod #art #ancientart #Maya #culture #Guatemala #prehispanic #mesoamerica #MayanArt #precolumbianjade #burial #afterlife #religion #belief #elite

Storm God Mosaic Mask
Maya. Guatemala. c. AD 200-600.
jadeite and shell tesserae set over a wooden core with resin.
Collection: The Al Thani Collection.
Now on display at the Hôtel de la
Marine, Paris.
Look closely at the image: spiral eyes, broad nose, round earspools and a parted mouth lined with orange shell. That orange is spondylus, a Pacific spiny oyster.
Conservators studying a closely related jade mosaic mask from a royal tomb at Chochkitam, Guatemala, noted that spondylus turns warm and flesh-like when backlit, making the face seem to come alive. That mask lay on a king's chest and has been read as a manifestation of the storm god.

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