A Maya Jade Bead, Classic Period, ca. 500 - 900 CE

Carved from mottled sage-green jadeite, this finely polished bead is fashioned into an ovoid form and incised with three shallow concentric rings encircling the body. The stone exhibits attractive variegation in tone and translucency, producing subtle tonal shifts when viewed in raking light. The combination of precise incisions and a high, almost buttery polish indicates skilled lapidary work consistent with Classic-period Mesoamerican jade craftsmanship.

Jade (particularly jadeite) held deep symbolic and ritual importance among the ancient Maya and other Mesoamerican cultures. Valued above many other materials, jade was associated with life, fertility, and regeneration and was frequently used as a personal ornament and as an object with protective and ritually efficacious properties. Small, pierced beads and pendants such as this example were commonly worn or deposited in funerary contexts and are often interpreted as both markers of social status and portable amulets. The stone’s green coloration was especially prized as a symbol of growth and vitality; historical sources and ethnohistoric accounts attribute a range of medicinal and spiritual qualities to jade, which ancient peoples believed could assist in dream interpretation, healing, and the mediation of the spiritual world.

Medium: Jadeite

Dimensions: bead diameter 5/8 in. (16 mm); overall length as strung 19 in. (48 cm) on modern cord

Condition: Excellent. Intact bead with uniform high polish; minor surface wear consistent with age. Drilled for suspension and strung as a pendant on a modern cord with 18K gold terminals.

Provenance: Private Long Island, New York collection, previously in the private collection of Nancy and John Hyde Devoe, New York City and New Jersey, acquired in the 1950s - 1970s.

QUESTIONS? Just click the Contact Us tab on your right.