La Tolita Carved Bone Figure - Mummified Lord-King

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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 $1200**
  
  Pre-Columbian, Ecuador, La Tolita (sometimes Tumaco) culture, ca. 350 BCE to 350 CE. A depiction of a mummified lord-king, hand-carved from the bone of an ungulate. The figure is shown in a seated position, with legs bent and curled tightly beneath a slender torso, and both hands folded in prayer in front of his chest. The lord-king's delicate face displays several shallow incised linear details, perhaps indicative of ritual facial scarification marks, with an open mouth and blank eyes indicative of being deceased. The lord-king dons an intricate headdress resembling a trophy head who itself wears a coiling snake with a stylized face. Figural bone carvings like this example are exceptionally rare, making this an outstanding example from ancient Ecuador! Custom museum-quality display stand included. Size: 3.375" H (8.6 cm); 5" H (12.7 cm) on included custom stand.
  
  The artistic creations from the Ecuadorian culture of La Tolita / Tumaco were some of the finest in ancient South America. Many wood and bone figurines, ceramic creations, and stone carvings depicted naturalistic details seldom observed in Pre-Columbian artwork, with almost all of them exhibiting ear ornamentation, nose rings, large pectorals, or other forms of fine embellishments. La Tolita artisans crafted simple yet effective stone tools to shape hard substances into recognizable forms, which also increased their proficiency in carving semi-precious stones as well. The La Tolita were also incredibly resourceful, making works of art from bone, shell, and non-precious stones.
  
  Provenance: private Hawaii, USA collection; ex-private Hirsch collection, New york City, New York, USA, collected 1950 to 1970
  
  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.
  
  #132529

  Condition

  Age-commensurate surface wear, fading to some carved features, small nicks to face, headdress, and bottom portion, with some discoloration, otherwise intact and excellent. Nice earthen deposits throughout.
• Shipping Info

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