Fine Nayarit Chinesco Lagunillas Type C Pottery Figure

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Exceptional Antiquities | Asian | Ethnographi...

By Artemis Gallery

Jun 10, 2021

Set Reminder 2021-06-10 10:00:00 2021-06-10 10:00:00 America/New_York Bidsquare Bidsquare : Exceptional Antiquities | Asian | Ethnographic https://www.bidsquare.com/auctions/artemis-gallery/exceptional-antiquities-asian-ethnographic-7012
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• Lot Description
  Pre-Columbian, West Mexico, southern Nayarit region, Chinesco, Lagunillas, Type C, Protoclassic Period, ca. 100 BCE to 250 CE. A fabulous, hand-built pottery sculpture of a Type C Chinesco figure exhibiting a sizable stature and highly burnished surfaces. Decorated with red-brown pigment and accentuated with cream and black hues, the figure stands atop narrow feet and ample thighs, has a crosshatched loincloth hanging from the waist, and has bangle-adorned arms that drape down to the waistline. The shoulders slope gently and taper upwards towards a broad neck. Characteristic Chinesco Type C features include an enormous, heart-shaped head, petite, double-pupil eyes, a narrow mouth curled into a slight smirk, a bulbous nose, and perky ears, all beneath a massive forehead adorned with cream pigment. Size: 6.25" W x 12.8" H (15.9 cm x 32.5 cm); 13.1" H (33.3 cm) on included custom stand.
  
  This style of sculpture is known as Chinesco by collectors because of its stylistic similarities to Chinese art. Clay figures like this one are the only remains that we have today of a sophisticated and unique culture in West Mexico -- they made no above-ground monuments or sculptures, at least that we know of, which is in strong contrast to developments elsewhere in ancient Mesoamerica. Instead, their tombs were their lasting works of art: skeletons arrayed radially with their feet positioned inward, and clay offerings, like this one, placed alongside the walls facing inward, near the skulls. A large effigy like this one would most likely have flanked the entrance to a tomb in a way that archaeologists have interpreted as guarding. Some scholars have connected these dynamic sculptures of the living as a strong contrast to the skeletal remains whose space they shared, as if they mediated between the living and the dead.
  
  Cf. a similar example hammered for EUR 68,750 ($83,725.81) at Christie's, Paris "Quetzalcoatl: Serpent A Plumes" auction (sale 19159, February 8, 2021, lot 10)
  
  This piece has been searched against the Art Loss Register database and has been cleared. The Art Loss Register maintains the world’s largest database of stolen art, collectibles, and antiques.
  
  Provenance: private Hawaii, USA collection; ex-Harry A. Franklin collection, California, USA
  
  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.
  
  We ship worldwide and handle all shipping in-house for your convenience.
  
  #164534

  Condition

  Restoration to proper right half of nose and both arms, with resurfacing and overpainting along new material and break lines. Abrasions and a few spalls in scattered areas, with fading and chipping to original pigment, light encrustations, and a few stable hairline fissures. Great remains of original pigment throughout. Old inventory label on middle of back.
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