Huge Costa Rican Stone Flying Panel Metate

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CLEARANCE | Ancient & Ethnographic Art

By Artemis Gallery

Jul 8, 2021

Set Reminder 2021-07-08 10:00:00 2021-07-08 10:00:00 America/New_York Bidsquare Bidsquare : CLEARANCE | Ancient & Ethnographic Art https://www.bidsquare.com/auctions/artemis-gallery/clearance-ancient-ethnographic-art-7173
Kick off summer with our clearance sale featuring discounted pricing and many new items at superb prices! Asian art, Classical antiquities from Egypt, Greece, Italy, and the Near East...plus Pre-Columbian, Tribal, Russian Icons & Enamelware, Spanish Colonial, Fine Art, Fossils, more! Artemis Gallery info@artemisgallery.com

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• Lot Description
  **Originally Listed At $4500**
  
  Pre-Columbian, Central America, Costa Rica, Atlantic Watershed region, ca. 1st to 5th century CE. An enormous flying panel ceremonial metate, expertly carved from a single piece of volcanic stone with refined dimensions and intricately shaped zoomorphic embellishments. The flat metate face is slightly recessed and surrounded by a thick border decorated with a fringed lower edge. The metate itself is supported by three thick conical legs. On the underside is a large, abstract serpent form that seems to slither along a flat support band that joins two of the legs together. Size: 33.5" L x 17.2" W x 13.75" H (85.1 cm x 43.7 cm x 34.9 cm)
  
  This ceremonial metate carved from volcanic stone represents one of the most unusual traditions of the ancient Americas. While some metates were used as grinding slabs, others showing more intricate designs like this example were intended for ritualistic ceremonies and as burial offerings. It has also been suggested that some metates were actually used as thrones for rulers to sit on. The iconographic/decorative program of this metate suggests a ceremonial function. The ornament may be related to the owner the piece or the ritual in which the metate was used. Alongside the jaguar, the serpent was the most important symbolic animal in ancient Central America.
  
  For a stylistically-similar example featuring primarily jaguars, please see The Metropolitan Museum of Art, accession number 1986.200: https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/314952
  
  Provenance: private Sneed collection, West Palm Beach, Florida, USA collection, collected before 2005
  
  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 customs (even for items with pre-UNESCO provenance), we will no longer ship most Antiquities and ancient Chinese art to Australia.  For categories of items that are acceptable to ship to Australia, please contact us directly or work with your local customs brokerage firm.
  
  #145021

  Condition

  Repaired from multiple large pieces with resurfacing and adhesive residue along break lines. Minor abrasions to top, legs, and carved animals, with softening to some finer details, and light encrustations within some recessed areas. Light earthen deposits throughout.
• Shipping Info

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