1940s Mexican Polychrome Wood Rabbit Carvings (2)

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Fauna, Flora, Stone & Bones - Fall Edition

By Artemis Gallery

Oct 28, 2021

Set Reminder 2021-10-28 12:00:00 2021-10-28 12:00:00 America/New_York Bidsquare Bidsquare : Fauna, Flora, Stone & Bones - Fall Edition https://www.bidsquare.com/auctions/artemis-gallery/fauna-flora-stone-bones---fall-edition-7768
Join us for a very special early Fall auction featuring fabulous fossils, rocks, and minerals, plus art depicting flora and fauna from antiquity to present day. This is one sale you won't want to miss! Artemis Gallery info@artemisgallery.com

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• Lot Description
  Latin America, Mexico, ca. 1940s to 1950s. An endearing pair of Mexican Folk Art polychrome painted wood carvings depicting two rabbits (conejos); one of the bunnies is laughing hysterically with a toothy grin, while the other is brandishing a smile. Each one was skillfully shaped and adzed by hand. The forms are painted a milky white, embellished with black curvilinear motifs to represent their fur, and detailed with expressive visages comprised of bright blue eyes, flaring nostrils, laughing and smiling mouths that further demonstrate their personalities, and long raised ears. Size of laughing rabbit: 10.75" H (27.3 cm) Size of smiling rabbit: 8.625" H (21.9 cm)
  
  These bunnies were likely inspired by a Mexican folktale called "The Laughing Rabbit in the Moon" (also "The Smiling Rabbit in the Moon") in which the rabbit is a trickster whose cunning ways fool a jaguar. Usually, the jaguar is portrayed as a mighty, powerful figure in Mexican culture; however, in this folktale, the jaguar is rather foolish, and the clever rabbit outwits the jaguar. The narrative is as follows.
  
  Juan Carlos and his wife, Yesenia, were very poor and had few possessions, but they did have a pet rabbit named Juanito that they loved dearly. One day, in their elder years, Yesenia realized that their kitchen cupboards were bare. Since it was the holiday season, the couple wanted to cook for family that was coming for a visit. While they had no food, and no money to buy food, they did have their pet rabbit. Juan Carlos resolved to boil a pot of water, as Yesenia wept. At that moment, a jaguar was passing by and seeing Juanito asleep in his cage, shouted, "You are in trouble my friend. Your precious family is about to cook you!" Juanito replied, "You are incorrect. Juan Carlos is just boiling water to make hot chocolate like he does every morning. He will bring me a delicious cup really soon!" The jaguar replied, "Hahaha, they are going to cook you and eat you up. I will be sure to enjoy a piece!" To which Juanito replied, "If you come into my cage, I will let you have my cup of hot chocolate to prove my point!" The jaguar complied, because he was very hungry, and Juanito quickly closed the cage door and hopped away. Realizing that the sly rabbit had tricked him, the jaguar broke out of the cage and searched for Juanito in the forest. He finally found the bunny in a cave and said, "Aha, I found you and now I will make you pay for your trickery!" The rabbit looked intensely at the jaguar and said, "I don't know what you are talking about. I've never even seen you before. This is my cave. I'm just holding up the wall, so my cave won't come crashing down on us. So stop being so silly, and come help me hold up this wall." The jaguar listened and leaned against the wall as the rabbit ran off. Once again, the jaguar was fooled. Now the jaguar was even angrier and ran off to find and punish Juanito. Eventually he found the rabbit swinging from a vine over the river, having the time of his life, happy as can be. The jaguar leapt toward the rabbit, caught the vine, pulled it taut, and let go. The vine then snapped, and Juanito was hurled up into the sky, all the way to the moon. So the jaguar was foiled once again, and the tricky rabbit may be seen on the full moon to this day - laughing happily because he tricked the jaguar.
  
  Provenance: private Louisville, Colorado, USA collection
  
  All items legal to buy/sell under U.S. Statute covering cultural patrimony Code 2600, CHAPTER 14, and are guaranteed to be as described or your money back.
  
  A Certificate of Authenticity will accompany all winning bids.
  
  PLEASE NOTE: Due to recent increases of shipments being seized by Australian & German customs (even for items with pre-UNESCO provenance), we will no longer ship most antiquities and ancient Chinese art to Australia & Germany. For categories of items that are acceptable to ship to Australia or Germany, please contact us directly or work with your local customs brokerage firm.
  
  Display stands not described as included/custom in the item description are for photography purposes only and will not be included with the item upon shipping.
  
  #168241

  Condition

  Normal surface scuffs and nicks commensurate with age, but the painted finish and carved details are still vivid. Each one has a perforation at the top center, so that the rabbit heads can be displayed on a wall. The ears were probably carved separately, but it is very difficult to see the junctures where they were attached. Clearly these were created by a very skilled artisan.
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