Squatting dwarf

Carved of a fine-grained brown stone and polished to a dull lustre, this small sculpture portrays a dwarf, with a large, ovoid head, thick torso, and short, stout limbs. Dwarfs are a common motif in Mesoamerican art, portrayed in Olmec monumental sculpture, ceramics, and lapidary art; in later Maya art dwarfs appear frequently as attendants in noble or royal courts. This dwarf is engraved with maize emblems and carries a maize sack on his back; in ancient Mesoamerica maize was much more than a crop—it was a divine being, with a life cycle recounted in myth and re-enacted in ritual. In some accounts it was literally the material from which humankind was fashioned.