Important Veracruz Pottery Squatting Skeletal God

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Fine Ethnographic / Asian / Ancient Art

By Artemis Gallery

May 10, 2018

Set Reminder 2018-05-10 10:00:00 2018-05-10 10:00:00 America/New_York Bidsquare Bidsquare : Fine Ethnographic / Asian / Ancient Art https://www.bidsquare.com/auctions/artemis-gallery/fine-ethnographic-asian-ancient-art-3213
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• Lot Description
  Pre-Columbian, Gulf Coast of Mexico, Vera Cruz culture, ca. 500 to 700 CE. A remarkable ceramic figure: a skeletal god, his face upturned to the viewer, his leering grin jutting forward from his face. He stands in a squatting position, his knees bent realistically underneath himself, his arms along his body, with his hands twisted away, palms at a ninety degree angle from his round buttocks. He wears nothing but a loincloth and a mask that obscures the upper half of his face. The mask forms round bands around his eyes, which bulge outward; a short, sharp hook forms a nose, while swirling motifs sweep up the face around where ears would have been in life. This mask recalls the flayed skin of a sacrificial victim, worn over the face by a priest. Size: 7" L x 7.25" W x 8.6" H (17.8 cm x 18.4 cm x 21.8 cm)
  
  The figure depicted here is a common one in ancient Mesoamerica, a god whose Veracruz name is lost to time, but who manifested himself to the Aztecs as Mictlantecuhtli, the god of the dead and the Lord of Mictlan, the nine-leveled underworld of Aztec mythology. For the Veracruz, who lived centuries earlier, these skeleton gods were part of the central theme of their artistic and religious world: ritual human sacrifice to ensure the continuation of the harvest. Similar statues have been found marking mass graves of sacrificial victims whose bodies bear evidence of dismemberment and flaying. Skeleton iconography also was associated with the consumption of pulque, a holy intoxicant made from fermented agave juice (sometimes called maguey). In some Veracruz artwork, skeletons are seen rising from vats of pulque or otherwise ingesting the powerful drink; this figure certainly seems to be under the influence of something!
  
  Provenance: ex private Florida, USA collection; ex Arte Primitivo Gallery, New York, USA
  
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  #129958

  Condition

  Both arms, the top of the head, and one buttock have been repaired and expertly restored, so that it is almost impossible to tell. Nice deposits over surface. Excellent preservation of form and detail.
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