Necklace

200 BCE - 1500 CE
Unknown Artist (Mesoamerican)

Object Type	Marsden Hartley Memorial Collection
Dimensions	6 in. (15.24 cm)
Medium	Stone beads on string
Credit Line	Bates College Museum of Art, Marsden Hartley Memorial Collection, Gift of the Marsden Hartley Estate, 1951.2.27
Accession Number	1951.2.27

The mixed shapes and colors of beads indicate a modern assemblage of adornments of unknown provenance. However, the stones’ characteristics suggest the beads came from West Mexico, although these types of beads are found throughout Central Mexico.
Notes: Modern restringing of ancient Mesoamerican beads and adornments is a common practice. Looters and dealers frequently pool these small finds until a wearable string can be produced and sold to a collector. In addition, it has been common in Mexico for ancient adornments to be repurposed into modern jewelry forms, a practice made famous by artist Frida Kahlo and silversmith William Spratling in the 1950s and 1960s, yet the practice can be traced to the 16th Century.