Frog Yoke
Unknown Artist
7th–10th century
Medium
Greenstone, pigment (probably hematite)
Dimensions
H. 5 x W. 14 7/8 x D. 15 3/4 in. (12.7 x 37.8 x 40 cm)
Classification
Stone-Sculpture
Culture
Veracruz
Department
Arts of Africa, Oceania, and the Americas
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
The Michael C. Rockefeller Memorial Collection, Gift of Nelson A. Rockefeller, 1963
Accession Number
1978.412.15
Art Historical Context
This striking *Frog Yoke* from the ancient Veracruz culture of Mesoamerica, dating to the 7th–10th century, exemplifies the masterful stone carving of pre-Columbian artisans. Carved from durable greenstone—a prized hardstone often likened to jade—and enhanced with red pigment likely derived from hematite, the sculpture measures a compact 5 inches high by nearly 16 inches wide and deep. Its low, belt-like profile and frog motif suggest it was worn around the waist, evoking the amphibian's symbolic ties to water, fertility, and renewal in Mesoamerican cosmology. Veracruz masterpieces like this ...