{"secondaryobjectnumber":null,"periodterms":[{"id":2035652,"period":"Middle Preclassic"}],"creditline":"Museum purchase, gift of Mrs. Gerard B. Lambert by exchange","caption":"Olmec style, Middle Formative Period, 1000–400 BCE, possibly from Veracruz, Gulf Coast, Mexico, Mesoamerica, Kneeling man. Stone with red pigment; 17.6 × 10.8 × 10.1 cm. Museum purchase, gift of Mrs. Gerard B. Lambert by exchange (y1976-21)","cultureterms":[{"id":2035751,"culture":"Olmec"}],"type":"artobject","dimensionsproposed":"","terms":[{"id":2055437,"term":"figurines","aatid":300047455,"termtype":"Classification"},{"id":2156714,"term":"incising","aatid":300053847,"termtype":"Classification"},{"id":2055657,"term":"figures (representations)","aatid":300189808,"termtype":"Subject"},{"id":2056370,"term":"red","aatid":300126225,"termtype":"Subject"},{"id":2057221,"term":"brown","aatid":300127490,"termtype":"Subject"},{"id":2087929,"term":"nobility","aatid":300025942,"termtype":"Subject"},{"id":2089201,"term":"kings (people)","aatid":300025481,"termtype":"Subject"},{"id":2095038,"term":"heirs","aatid":300258972,"termtype":"Subject"},{"id":2035652,"term":"Middle Preclassic","aatid":300016973,"termtype":"Period / Style"},{"id":2171876,"term":"toads","aatid":null,"termtype":"Subject"},{"id":2035751,"term":"Olmec","aatid":300017051,"termtype":"Culture"},{"id":2151022,"term":"kneeling","aatid":null,"termtype":"Subject"},{"id":2168423,"term":"pigment","aatid":300013109,"termtype":"Materials"},{"id":2056370,"term":"red","aatid":300126225,"termtype":"Color"},{"id":2156386,"term":"carving techniques","aatid":300186208,"termtype":"Techniques"},{"id":2164290,"term":"stone","aatid":300011176,"termtype":"Materials"}],"geography":[{"displaygeography":"Place made: North America, Mexico, possibly from Veracruz, Gulf Coast","code":"Place made","continent":"North America","subcontinent":"Mesoamerica","country":"Mexico","region":"Gulf Coast","state":"possibly from Veracruz","city":null,"county":null,"subregion":null,"locale":null,"locus":null,"river":null,"excavation":null,"geoname":"http://www.geonames.org/maps/google_19.181_-96.143.html","location":{"lat":"","lon":""}}],"dimensionelements":[{"element":"Overall","type":"Height","units":"centimeters","dimension":"17.60"},{"element":"Overall","type":"Width","units":"centimeters","dimension":"10.80"},{"element":"Overall","type":"Depth","units":"centimeters","dimension":"10.10"}],"markings":null,"accessionyear":"1976-01-01","newaccession":0,"makers":[],"datecomputed":-700,"signed":null,"restrictions":null,"classification":"Sculpture","packages":[{"packageid":225488,"name":"Gallery_20(Pavilion5)-AAA"},{"packageid":118480,"name":"CRS_ART100_2017_09-25"},{"packageid":181974,"name":"web_2020_AAA"},{"packageid":193150,"name":"PUAM_Expressing Culture_Mesoamerican"},{"packageid":195745,"name":"PUAM_World Cultures"},{"packageid":194491,"name":"PUAM_Highlights of Mesoamerica"},{"packageid":278831,"name":"10282025-DAY1-ONVIEW"},{"packageid":206417,"name":"image_descriptions_top250"},{"packageid":167646,"name":"web_highlights"},{"packageid":197269,"name":"web_highlights -revised 2021"},{"packageid":196242,"name":"web_2021_01_ArtForStreets"},{"packageid":223470,"name":"2023_ART365/LAS370/ANT365_04_11"}],"catalograisonne":null,"classifications":[{"id":2156714,"classification":"incising"},{"id":2055437,"classification":"figurines"}],"exhibitions":[{"exhibitionid":961,"citation":"An Educated Eye: The Princeton University Art Museum Collection (Friday, February 22, 2008 - Sunday, June 15, 2008)","isvirtual":true,"begindate":"2008-02-22","enddate":"2008-06-15","uri":"https://artmuseum.princeton.edu/art/exhibitions/961"},{"exhibitionid":1682,"citation":"The Olmec World: Ritual and Rulership (December 16, 1995 - June 9, 1996)","isvirtual":true,"begindate":"1995-12-16","enddate":"1996-06-09","uri":"https://artmuseum.princeton.edu/art/exhibitions/1682"}],"cultures":[{"id":12498,"culture":"Olmec","alphasort":"Olmec","begindate":0,"enddate":0,"displayculture":"Olmec style","displaydate":null}],"primaryimage":["https://media.artmuseum.princeton.edu/iiif/3/collection/y1976-21_FRN"],"displaytitle":"Kneeling man","displayculture":"Olmec style","displaymaker":null,"captionhtml":"Olmec style, Middle Formative Period, 1000–400 BCE, possibly from Veracruz, Gulf Coast, Mexico, Mesoamerica, <i>Kneeling man</i>. Stone with red pigment; 17.6 × 10.8 × 10.1 cm. Museum purchase, gift of Mrs. Gerard B. Lambert by exchange (y1976-21)","displaydate":"1000–400 BCE","medium":"Stone with red pigment","media":[{"id":74617,"uri":"https://media.artmuseum.princeton.edu/iiif/3/collection/y1976-21","isprimary":0,"rank":3,"mediatypeid":1,"mediaviewtype":"(not assigned)","restrictions":null,"caption":"Bruce White Photography"},{"id":74618,"uri":"https://media.artmuseum.princeton.edu/iiif/3/collection/y1976-21_1","isprimary":0,"rank":2,"mediatypeid":1,"mediaviewtype":"(not assigned)","restrictions":null,"caption":"Bruce White Photography"},{"id":3330,"uri":"https://media.artmuseum.princeton.edu/iiif/3/collection/y1976-21_FRN","isprimary":1,"rank":4,"mediatypeid":1,"mediaviewtype":"(not assigned)","restrictions":null,"caption":"Luna Digitization Project"},{"id":3331,"uri":"https://media.artmuseum.princeton.edu/iiif/3/collection/y1976-21_LFT","isprimary":0,"rank":6,"mediatypeid":1,"mediaviewtype":"(not assigned)","restrictions":null,"caption":"Luna Digitization Project"},{"id":3332,"uri":"https://media.artmuseum.princeton.edu/iiif/3/collection/y1976-21_OBL","isprimary":0,"rank":5,"mediatypeid":1,"mediaviewtype":"(not assigned)","restrictions":null,"caption":"Luna Digitization Project"}],"displayperiod":"Middle Formative Period","extended_content":true,"campuscollections":"false","bibliography":[{"boilertext":"\"Acquisitions of the Art Museum 1976,\" <em>Record of the Art Museum, Princeton University </em>36, no. 1 (1977): p. 28-40.","citation":"\"Acquisitions of the Art Museum 1976,\" <em>Record of the Art Museum, Princeton University </em>36, no. 1 (1977): p. 28-40., p. 32 (illus.)","date":1977,"id":3365,"uri":"https://www.jstor.org/stable/3774447"},{"boilertext":"Alison Bailey Kennedy, \"Ecce Bufo: The Toad in Nature and in Olmec Iconography,\" <i>Current anthropology</i> 23, no. 3 (1982): p. 273-290.","citation":"Alison Bailey Kennedy, \"Ecce Bufo: The Toad in Nature and in Olmec Iconography,\" <i>Current anthropology</i> 23, no. 3 (1982): p. 273-290., figs. 58–59, pp. 273–209 (illus.)","date":1982,"id":2528,"uri":"https://www.jstor.org/stable/2742313"},{"boilertext":"Elizabeth Benson and Beatriz de la Fuente, eds.,<EM> Olmec Art of Ancient Mexico</EM> (Washington, D.C.: National Gallery of Art, 1996).","citation":"Elizabeth Benson and Beatriz de la Fuente, eds.,<EM> Olmec Art of Ancient Mexico</EM> (Washington, D.C.: National Gallery of Art, 1996)., cat. no. 66 (illus.)","date":1996,"id":2536,"uri":"https://search.worldcat.org/title/34357584"},{"boilertext":"Gerald Berjonneau, Emile Deletaille,&nbsp;and Jean-Louis Sonnery, <i>Rediscovered Masterpieces of Mesoamerica: Mexico-Guatemala-Honduras</i> (Boulogne: Editions Arts, 1985).","citation":"Gerald Berjonneau, Emile Deletaille,&nbsp;and Jean-Louis Sonnery, <i>Rediscovered Masterpieces of Mesoamerica: Mexico-Guatemala-Honduras</i> (Boulogne: Editions Arts, 1985)., cat. no. 19","date":1985,"id":2538,"uri":"https://search.worldcat.org/title/13186418"},{"boilertext":"Michael D. Coe et al., <I>The Olmec World: Ritual and Rulership</I> (Princeton, Princeton University Art Museum, 1996)","citation":"Michael D. Coe et al., <I>The Olmec World: Ritual and Rulership</I> (Princeton, Princeton University Art Museum, 1996), cover; cat. no. 42; fig. 9, p. 74 (illus.)","date":1996,"id":2564,"uri":"https://search.worldcat.org/title/34103154"},{"boilertext":"Arne Eggebrecht, <I>Glanz und Untergang des Alten Mexiko: Die Azteken und ihre Vorläufer </I>(Mainz: Verlag Phillip von Zabern<I>,</I> 1986).","citation":"Arne Eggebrecht, <I>Glanz und Untergang des Alten Mexiko: Die Azteken und ihre Vorläufer </I>(Mainz: Verlag Phillip von Zabern<I>,</I> 1986).","date":1986,"id":2583,"uri":"https://search.worldcat.org/title/475098669"},{"boilertext":"María Olga Sáenz González and Beatriz de la Fuente, <I>México en el mundo de las colecciones de arte,</I> volume 1 (Mexico City: Grupo Azabache, 1994).","citation":"María Olga Sáenz González and Beatriz de la Fuente, <I>México en el mundo de las colecciones de arte,</I> volume 1 (Mexico City: Grupo Azabache, 1994)., p. 48 (illus.)","date":1994,"id":2643,"uri":"https://search.worldcat.org/title/34285800"},{"boilertext":"<i>Princeton University Art Museum: Handbook of the Collections </i>(Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Art Museum, 2013)","citation":"<i>Princeton University Art Museum: Handbook of the Collections </i>(Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Art Museum, 2013), p. 116–117","date":2013,"id":1994,"uri":"https://search.worldcat.org/title/865020505"},{"boilertext":"<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"margin: 0in 0in 8pt; line-height: 106%;\"><span style='line-height: 106%; font-family: \"Arial\",sans-serif; font-size: 9pt;'>Lin Crocker-Deletaille and Emile Deletaille, <i>Tresors du nouveau monde</i> (Brussels: Royal Museum of Art and History, 1992).<!--?xml:namespace prefix = \"o\" ns = \"urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office\" /--><o:p></o:p></span></p>","citation":"<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"margin: 0in 0in 8pt; line-height: 106%;\"><span style='line-height: 106%; font-family: \"Arial\",sans-serif; font-size: 9pt;'>Lin Crocker-Deletaille and Emile Deletaille, <i>Tresors du nouveau monde</i> (Brussels: Royal Museum of Art and History, 1992).<!--?xml:namespace prefix = \"o\" ns = \"urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office\" /--><o:p></o:p></span></p>, fig. 74","date":1992,"id":2715,"uri":"https://search.worldcat.org/title/28597902"},{"boilertext":"Jan Van der Marck, <EM>In Quest of Excellence: Civic Pride, Patronage, Connoisseurship </EM>(Miami, FL: Center for the Fine Arts, 1984).","citation":"Jan Van der Marck, <EM>In Quest of Excellence: Civic Pride, Patronage, Connoisseurship </EM>(Miami, FL: Center for the Fine Arts, 1984)., p. 186–87","date":1984,"id":2719,"uri":"https://search.worldcat.org/title/11469730"},{"boilertext":"Allen Rosenbaum, \"'Gillett and Me': How a Eurocentric Museum Director Learned to Love Pre-Columbian Art,\"&nbsp;<em>Record of the Princeton University Art Museum</em> 64 (2005): 8-19.","citation":"Allen Rosenbaum, \"'Gillett and Me': How a Eurocentric Museum Director Learned to Love Pre-Columbian Art,\"&nbsp;<em>Record of the Princeton University Art Museum</em> 64 (2005): 8-19., fig. 6, p. 12","date":2005,"id":2745,"uri":"https://www.jstor.org/stable/3774829"},{"boilertext":"Harmer Johnson, ed. <i>Guide to the Arts of the Americas</i> (New York: Rizzoli, 1992)","citation":"Harmer Johnson, ed. <i>Guide to the Arts of the Americas</i> (New York: Rizzoli, 1992), p. 53 (illus.)","date":1992,"id":1260,"uri":"https://search.worldcat.org/title/25547967"},{"boilertext":"<p>Gérald Berjonneau, Emile Deletaille, and Jean-Louis Sonnery,&nbsp;<em>Art précolombien Mexique, Guatemala</em> (Paris: Editions Arts 135, 1985).</p>","citation":"<p>Gérald Berjonneau, Emile Deletaille, and Jean-Louis Sonnery,&nbsp;<em>Art précolombien Mexique, Guatemala</em> (Paris: Editions Arts 135, 1985).</p>","date":1985,"id":2969,"uri":"https://search.worldcat.org/title/16313916"},{"boilertext":"<i>Princeton University Art Museum: Handbook of the Collection</i> (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2007)","citation":"<i>Princeton University Art Museum: Handbook of the Collection</i> (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2007), p. 110–111 (illus.)","date":2007,"id":474,"uri":"https://search.worldcat.org/title/191864564"},{"boilertext":"Elizabeth P. Benson et al., <I>Retratos: 2,000 Years of Latin American Portraits</I> (San Antonio, Tex.: San Antonio Museum of Art, 2004).","citation":"Elizabeth P. Benson et al., <I>Retratos: 2,000 Years of Latin American Portraits</I> (San Antonio, Tex.: San Antonio Museum of Art, 2004)., fig. 2, p. 48 (illus.)","date":2004,"id":139,"uri":"https://search.worldcat.org/title/55955322"},{"boilertext":"F. Kent Reill, III, \"The Shaman in Transformation Pose: A Study of the Theme of Rulership in Olmec Art ,\" <EM>Record of the Art Museum, Princeton University </EM>48, no. 2 (1989): 4-21.","citation":"F. Kent Reill, III, \"The Shaman in Transformation Pose: A Study of the Theme of Rulership in Olmec Art ,\" <EM>Record of the Art Museum, Princeton University </EM>48, no. 2 (1989): 4-21., fig. 1, p. 4; figs. 5–8, pp. 8–9; fig. 15b, p. 13","date":1989,"id":3100,"uri":"https://www.jstor.org/stable/3774730"}],"nowebuse":"False","periods":[{"id":24010,"period":"Middle Formative Period","alphasort":"Formative Period, Middle","begindate":-1000,"enddate":-400,"displayperiod":"Middle Formative Period","displaydate":null}],"department":"Art of the Ancient Americas","attribute_groups":[{"id":2199317,"term":"Art of the Ancient Americas","termtype":"Collecting Area"}],"daterange":"1000 B.C.-A.D 1","dateend":-400,"depicted":[],"titles":[{"title":"Kneeling man","titletype":"Primary Title","displayorder":1}],"hasimage":"true","creditlinerepro":"","objectnumber":"y1976-21","inscribed":null,"texts":[{"texttype":"Online","textpurpose":"Provenance","textentryhtml":"<p>\n\tBy September 21, 1970, Alfred Stendahl (1915-2010), Los Angeles, CA [1]; November 1, 1976, Stendahl Galleries, Los Angeles, CA, sold to Gillett G. Griffin (1928-2016), Princeton, NJ [2]; 1976, sold to the Princeton University Art Museum.\n</p>\n<p>\n\tNotes:\n\t<br />\n\t[1] In a letter to the Art Museum, Princeton University, dated May 4, 1977, Alfred Stendahl says this object was imported by the Stendahl Galleries from Canada, through the James Wiley Co.\n\t<br />\n\t[2] According to a Stendahl Galleries invoice in the curatorial file.\n</p>","remarks":null},{"texttype":"Online","textpurpose":"Gallery Label","textentryhtml":"Earlier scholars regarded Olmec representations that seem to blend human and animal qualities, including the faces to the left, as documenting shamanic transformations by which an individual’s alter ego, in animal form, emerges from within. This kneeling man, however, lacks animal characteristics. The figure’s scalp has been split, and flaps of hair hang at the back of the head. His scalp is inscribed with the image of a molting toad (note the diamond shape on its back, where the toad’s skin has split). This toad may allude to agricultural renewal: just as a toad sheds its “dead” self to reveal new life within, plants can be seen as generating new life from within apparently lifeless seeds. Such a reading may associate the person with agriculture, or it may suggest that souls emerge from within the dead to live again in their progeny.\n","remarks":"AAA3_20-T3B-8_CLA_FA.pdf - Day 1 installation"}],"datebegin":-1000,"sortnumber":"1976   21y","published_date":"2026-02-11 10:28:39.358293","objectid":32269,"dimensions":"17.6 × 10.8 × 10.1 cm (6 15/16 × 4 1/4 × 4 in.)","on_view":true}