{"type":"artobject","objectid":33461,"objectnumber":"y1991-70","sortnumber":"1991 70y","displaytitle":"Ball game yoke","department":"Art of the Ancient Americas","classification":"Ceremonial Objects","datebegin":-1000,"dateend":-500,"datecomputed":-750,"daterange":"1000 B.C.-A.D 1","displaydate":"1000–500 BCE","medium":"Greenstone","dimensions":"h. 11.5 cm., w. 33.0 cm., d. 39.5 cm. (4 1/2 x 13 x 15 9/16 in.)","dimensionsproposed":"","creditline":"Gift of Gillett G. Griffin","markings":null,"inscribed":null,"signed":null,"catalograisonne":null,"creditlinerepro":"","restrictions":null,"nowebuse":"False","secondaryobjectnumber":null,"campuscollections":"false","on_view":false,"accessionyear":"1991-01-01","newaccession":0,"titles":[{"title":"Ball game yoke","titletype":"Primary Title","displayorder":1}],"makers":[],"depicted":[],"texts":[{"texttype":"Online","textpurpose":"Gallery Label","textentryhtml":"\r\nAlthough the ball game was played throughout Mexico and Central America, no region gave it more attention than Veracruz—in part because the rubber-tree sap used to make the balls is prevalent in the humid tropical lowlands along the coast. Most regional variants of the game shared several basic features: the use of a solid rubber ball; a ball court consisting of a narrow alleyway with sloped walls, sometimes with enclosed end zones; and two teams, each with two or three members who wore specialized protective gear. Only the upper arms, thighs, and torso of a player could strike the ball, and each of these areas bore its own type of protection made of cloth, deer hide, or wood.\r\nHeavy stone replicas of ball game gear likely served as trophies for the victors in noble bouts of the game. Frequently made of precious greenstone, such replicas also may have been created as works of art to be wagered, as gambling was a significant component of Mesoamerican ball games. Some sculptures include elaborate relief carving, often portraying bruised and battered individuals, who may represent captive players. Others portray identical youthful faces, possibly mythical hero twins who played the ball game against the lords of the underworld. Smaller stone replicas of ball courts and of balls also were created, especially during Aztec times, and placed in dedicatory caches to consecrate new ball courts.","remarks":"PreColumbianAtriumSeptember2014"}],"media":[{"id":3590,"uri":"https://media.artmuseum.princeton.edu/iiif/3/collection/y1991-70","isprimary":1,"rank":1,"mediatypeid":1,"mediaviewtype":"(not assigned)","restrictions":null,"caption":"Luna Digitization Project"}],"hasimage":"true","bibliography":[{"boilertext":"Michael D. Coe et al., The Olmec World: Ritual and Rulership (Princeton, Princeton University Art Museum, 1996)","citation":"Michael D. Coe et al., The Olmec World: Ritual and Rulership (Princeton, Princeton University Art Museum, 1996), cat. no. 135, p. 237 (illus.)","date":1996,"id":2564,"uri":"https://search.worldcat.org/title/34103154"},{"boilertext":"Mary E. Miller, \"The Ballgame,\" Record of the Art Museum, Princeton University 48, no. 2 (1989): 22–31.","citation":"Mary E. Miller, \"The Ballgame,\" Record of the Art Museum, Princeton University 48, no. 2 (1989): 22–31., fig. 9, p. 26","date":1989,"id":2789,"uri":"https://www.jstor.org/stable/3774731"},{"boilertext":"E. Michael Whittington, ed., The sport of life and death: the Mesoamerican ballgame (New York: Thames & Hudson, 2001).","citation":"E. Michael Whittington, ed., The sport of life and death: the Mesoamerican ballgame (New York: Thames & Hudson, 2001)., cat. no. 14","date":2001,"id":2942,"uri":"https://search.worldcat.org/title/49029226"},{"boilertext":"\"Acquisitions of the Art Museum 1991,\" Record of the Art Museum, Princeton University 51, no. 1 (1992): p. 22-78.","citation":"\"Acquisitions of the Art Museum 1991,\" Record of the Art Museum, Princeton University 51, no. 1 (1992): p. 22-78., pp. 73–74 (illus.)","date":1992,"id":3085,"uri":"https://www.jstor.org/stable/3774711"}],"exhibitions":[{"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"},{"exhibitionid":3,"citation":"Unexpected Journey: Gillett G. Griffin and the Art of the Ancient Americas at Princeton (May 7–June 26, 2005)","isvirtual":true,"begindate":"2005-05-07","enddate":"2005-06-26","uri":"https://artmuseum.princeton.edu/art/exhibitions/3"},{"exhibitionid":337,"citation":"The Sport of Life and Death: The Mesoamerican Ballgame:\r\nMint Museum of Art (22 Sept., 2001 – 6 Jan., 2002);\r\nNew Orleans Museum of Art (16 Feb. – 28 Apr. 2002);\r\nJoslyn Art Museum (8 Jun. – 1 Sept., 2002);\r\nNewark Museum (1 Oct. – 1 Dec., 2002).","isvirtual":true,"begindate":"2001-09-24","enddate":"2002-12-01","uri":"https://artmuseum.princeton.edu/art/exhibitions/337"}],"geography":[{"displaygeography":"Place made: North America, Mexico, Veracruz, Gulf Coast, said to be from Arroyo Pesquero","code":"Place made","continent":"North America","subcontinent":"Mesoamerica","country":"Mexico","region":"Gulf Coast","state":"Veracruz","city":null,"county":null,"subregion":null,"locale":"said to be from Arroyo Pesquero","locus":null,"river":"Rio Pesquero","excavation":null,"geoname":"http://www.geonames.org/11120548/el-pesquero.html","location":{"lat":"","lon":""}}],"terms":[{"id":2048754,"term":"ceremonial objects","aatid":300234117,"termtype":"Classification"},{"id":2084114,"term":"ball courts","aatid":300007324,"termtype":"Subject"},{"id":2199062,"term":"greenstone (rock)","aatid":null,"termtype":"Classification"},{"id":2035652,"term":"Middle Preclassic","aatid":300016973,"termtype":"Period / Style"},{"id":2146924,"term":"ball games","aatid":300239662,"termtype":"Subject"},{"id":2035751,"term":"Olmec","aatid":300017051,"termtype":"Culture"},{"id":2199062,"term":"greenstone (rock)","aatid":null,"termtype":"Materials"}],"classifications":[{"id":2199062,"classification":"greenstone (rock)"},{"id":2048754,"classification":"ceremonial objects"}],"cultures":[{"id":12498,"culture":"Olmec","alphasort":"Olmec","begindate":0,"enddate":0,"displayculture":"Olmec","displaydate":null}],"cultureterms":[{"id":2035751,"culture":"Olmec"}],"periods":[{"id":24010,"period":"Middle Formative Period","alphasort":"Formative Period, Middle","begindate":-1000,"enddate":-400,"displayperiod":"Middle Formative Period","displaydate":null}],"periodterms":[{"id":2035652,"period":"Middle Preclassic"}],"attribute_groups":[{"id":2199317,"term":"Art of the Ancient Americas","termtype":"Collecting Area"}],"dimensionelements":[{"element":"Overall","type":"Height","units":"centimeters","dimension":"11.50"},{"element":"Overall","type":"Width","units":"centimeters","dimension":"33.00"},{"element":"Overall","type":"Depth","units":"centimeters","dimension":"39.50"}],"packages":[{"packageid":141943,"name":"Web_Ballgame_Paraphenalia"},{"packageid":23505,"name":"web_AAA for Atrium"},{"packageid":141941,"name":"Web_Ballgame_all"}],"primaryimage":["https://media.artmuseum.princeton.edu/iiif/3/collection/y1991-70"],"displaymaker":null,"displayculture":"Olmec","displayperiod":"Middle Formative Period","caption":"Olmec, Middle Formative Period, 1000–500 BCE, Veracruz, Gulf Coast, Mexico, Mesoamerica, Ball game yoke. Greenstone; 11.5 x 33 x 39.5 cm. Gift of Gillett G. Griffin (y1991-70)","captionhtml":"Olmec, Middle Formative Period, 1000–500 BCE, Veracruz, Gulf Coast, Mexico, Mesoamerica, Ball game yoke. Greenstone; 11.5 x 33 x 39.5 cm. Gift of Gillett G. Griffin (y1991-70)","published_date":"2026-02-11 10:35:28.835187","campusart":[{"campuscollections":"false","campusart":0,"neighborhood":null,"lat":null,"lon":null}],"extended_content":false}