Summary

Ballplayer Figure   (  )
Artist	Anonymous (Olmecs)Unknown author
Title	Ballplayer Figure
Description	The identification of this figure as a ballplayer rests on the characteristically wide belt, or "yoke," around his waist. He carries a rectangular item in his left arm, and his right hand clutches a cylindrical object, perhaps a ball-striking implement used in some versions of the game. Underneath the yoke, the player wears a loincloth and hip wrap, which falls below his buttocks. His head is tied with a wide knotted strap, and his large disk pendant resembles the divining mirror seen on other Olmec-style figurines. The Mesoamerican ballgame was a multifaceted event. It was played as sport, and among the sixteenth-century Aztecs, there was much betting and revelry. The game also was a ritualized reflection of cosmic forces, a ceremonial petition for fertility, and a rite during which the supernatural realm was made manifest. The ballgame has very ancient origins in Mesoamerica; the earliest known ballcourt, dating to about 1400 BCE, was found at Paso de la Amada in Chiapas, Mexico.
Date	between 900 and 600 BC (Middle Formative)
Medium	Jadeite
Dimensions	9 × 4.2 × 2.5 cm (3.5 × 1.6 × 0.9 in)
Collection	Walters Art Museum    Native name Walters Art Museum Location Baltimore, United States of America Coordinates 39° 17′ 48″ N, 76° 36′ 58″ W   Established 1934  Website thewalters.org Authority file : Q210081 VIAF: 128918374 ISNI: 000000040373611X ULAN: 500279110 LCCN: no00096900 GND: 16029354-6 WorldCat institution QS:P195,Q210081
Accession number	TL.2009.20.228
Place of creation	Gulf Coast Lowlands, Mexico
Object history	Stendahl Galleries, Los Angeles [date and mode of acquisition unknown] John G. Bourne, August 27, 1975, by purchase.
Exhibition history	Exploring Art of the Ancient Americas: The John Bourne Collection Gift. The Walters Art Museum, Baltimore; Frist Center for the Visual Arts, Nashville. 2012–2013.
Credit line	Promised gift of John Bourne
Source	Walters Art Museum: Home page  Info about artwork
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Licensing

This file was provided to Wikimedia Commons by the Walters Art Museum as part of a cooperation project. All artworks in the photographs are in public domain due to age. The photographs of two-dimensional objects are also in the public domain. Photographs of three-dimensional objects and all descriptions have been released under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported License and the GNU Free Documentation License. In the case of the text descriptions, copyright restrictions only apply to longer descriptions which cross the threshold of originality. العربيَّة | English | français | italiano | македонски | русский | sicilianu | +/−

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