Large & Fine Chinesco Nayarit Pottery Female Figure

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Exceptional Antiquities, Asian, Ethnographic

By Artemis Gallery

Feb 21, 2019

Set Reminder 2019-02-21 10:00:00 2019-02-21 10:00:00 America/New_York Bidsquare Bidsquare : Exceptional Antiquities, Asian, Ethnographic https://www.bidsquare.com/auctions/artemis-gallery/exceptional-antiquities-asian-ethnographic-3858
An important one-day auction featuring museum-worthy examples of Egyptian, Greek, Roman, Etruscan, Near Eastern, Far East / Asian, Pre-Columbian, African / Tribal, Oceanic, Native American, Spanish Colonial, Russian, Fossils, Ancient Jewelry, Fine Art, so much more! Artemis Gallery info@artemisgallery.com

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• Lot Description
  Pre-Columbian, West Mexico, Nayarit, ca. 300 BCE to 300 CE. An exemplary standing figure akin to Von Winning's Lagunillas Type C, its abstract, heart-shaped face comprised of tiny, oval eyes, a large, protruding nose decorated with a thick ornament, and a tiny, almost invisible slit for a mouth. Her face is painted with wonderful decoration that reminds this modern viewer of David Bowie - diagonal red slashes over and around one eye, a single thin, arched eyebrow, and more red slashes on her nose and other cheek. Does this represent clan tattoos, deliberate scarification, or even just decorative face paint? Her body is painted with geometric motifs - triangles across her breasts and upper arms, another triangle up from her groin to meet at a point at her belly, and a square of cross-hatched black lines on creamy beige over the legs like a loincloth. The rest of her legs are a rich, earthy red. A single red armband is on one arm and a red band is painted around her neck. Size: 5.75" W x 13.75" H (14.6 cm x 34.9 cm); 14" H (35.6 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 some of the only remains that we have today of a sophisticated and unique culture in West Mexico - they left 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.
  
  In 1974, Hasso von Winning published an exhaustive classification of Western Mexico shaft tomb artifacts (including, for example, the Chinesco A through D types), a classification that is still in use today. This example is similar to the first published Chinesco figure, attributed to Jalisco, Nayarit (Lumholtz, 1902, vol. 2: 294). For other red, white, and black slipped figures of this type, see Hasso Von Winning (1974) "The Shaft Tomb Figures of West Mexico." Southwest Museum Papers, no. 24. Los Angeles: Southwest Museum, figures 315 and 317.
  
  Provenance: private New York, New York, USA collection; ex-Howard Rose Gallery, New York, USA; ex-Meza family collection, Whittier, California, USA, acquired in the 1960s
  
  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.
  
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  #144368

  Condition

  Tiny repair and restoration on one corner of the head with a new plug of clay that is just visible on the forehead. Otherwise in great condition with nice remaining pigment.
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