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Gorget

CultureMayan
Date500 C.E.
MediumEngraved shell
DimensionsOverall: 4 5/8 × 2 5/8 × 1/2 inches (11.75 × 6.67 × 1.27 cm)
Credit LinePurchase: William Rockhill Nelson Trust
Object number60-75
On View
On view
Gallery Location
  • L13
Exhibition History

The Imagination of Primitive Man, The Nelson Gallery and Atkins Museum, Kansas City, MO, January 18-February 25, 1962, no. 233.

Painted Worlds: Color and Culture in Mesoamerican Art, The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, MO, November 1, 2025-February 8, 2026.

Provenance

With John Wise, Ltd., New York, by May 1960 [1];

Purchased from John Wise, Ltd. by The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, MO, 1960.

NOTES:

[1] British anthropologist Sir J. Eric S. Thompson (1898-1975) translated the object’s glyphs in a statement dated September 1946, copy in Nelson-Atkins Registration file. Thompson’s notes do not indicate the object’s location or ownership at that time. This object is illustrated in Miguel Covarrubias, Indian Art of Mexico and Central America (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1957), 252, plate 53, but its location and ownership at the time of the book’s publication are not indicated.

Published References

Miguel Covarrubias, Indian Art of Mexico and Central America (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1957), 252, plate 53, (repro.).

Ralph T. Coe, The Imagination of Primitive Man, exh. cat. (Kansas City, MO: University Trustees, William Rockhill Nelson Trust), 1962), 142, 145, (repro.).

Information about a particular artwork or image, including provenance information, is based upon historic information and may not be currently accurate or complete. Research on artwork and images is an ongoing process, and the information about a particular artwork or image may not reflect the most current information available to the Museum. If you notice a mistake or have additional information about a particular artwork or image, please e-mail provenance@nelson-atkins.org.


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