2-723-428 - Heritage Art/Heritage Images

Ballgame Hip Protector (Yoke), 600-900. U-shaped ballgame sculptures imitate the shape of belt-like protectors, perhaps made of wood and padding, worn to shield ballplayers from injury when they returned the solid rubber ball from their hips. This fine example embodies a major theme of the ballgame: the connection between fertility and death. It is made of greenstone, a precious material that through its colour symbolizes the lush burgeoning of nature after the rainy season. The imagery, however, is menacing: a monstrous head snarls from the curve, and human skulls appear on the sides.