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THBPair of Exhibited Nayarit San Sebastian Pottery Figures
Lot 148
About Seller
Artemis Gallery
686 S Taylor Ave, Ste 106
Louisville, CO 80027
United States
Selling antiquities, ancient and ethnographic art online since 1993, Artemis Gallery specializes in Classical Antiquities (Egyptian, Greek, Roman, Near Eastern), Asian, Pre-Columbian, African / Tribal / Oceanographic art. Our extensive inventory includes pottery, stone, metal, wood, glass and textil...Read more
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Live Auction in Progress ... Currently on Lot Estimate:
$6,000 - $9,000
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Bid Increments
| Price | Bid Increment |
|---|---|
| $0 | $25 |
| $300 | $50 |
| $1,000 | $100 |
| $2,000 | $250 |
| $5,000 | $500 |
| $10,000 | $1,000 |
| $20,000 | $2,500 |
| $50,000 | $5,000 |
| $100,000 | $10,000 |
| $200,000 | $20,000 |
About Auction
Live
By Artemis Gallery
Jun 4, 2020
Set Reminder
2020-06-04 10:00:00
2020-06-04 10:00:00
America/New_York
Bidsquare
Bidsquare : Exceptional Antiquities, Asian, Ethnographic
https://www.bidsquare.com/auctions/artemis-gallery/exceptional-antiquities-asian-ethnographic-5185
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
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
View Full Catalog (393)
- Lot Description
Pre-Columbian, West Mexico, Nayarit, San Sebastian type, Protoclassic Period, ca. 100 BCE to 250 CE. A fine set of two hand-built pottery seated figures with highly burnished surfaces and broad legs. The warrior leans slightly forward with broad shoulders, holds a knob-headed club against the corresponding shoulder, and grasps a petite olla. Warrior figures like this example are typically clad in padded wraps or barrel-shaped cuirasses, so a nude warrior is rather unusual. Next is a nude female who holds both arms to her abdomen beneath perky breasts and displays six bulges on each stocky shoulder indicative of 'ritual scarification pellets.' Both visages feature puffy eyes and tab-shaped ears, and the surfaces are adorned with red-orange slip. Size of largest (female): 11" W x 23.8" H (27.9 cm x 60.5 cm)
Clay figures like these 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 these, placed alongside the walls facing inward, near the skulls. Large effigies like these 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.
Both items were exhibited in the University of St. Thomas Art Gallery.
For a strikingly similar example of a seated male figure without a stool, please see: Kan, Michael, Clement Meighan, and H.B. Nicholson. "Sculpture of Ancient West Mexico: Nayarit, Jalisco, Colima | A Catalogue of the Proctor Stafford Collection at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art." Los Angeles County Museum of Art, 1989, p. 94, fig. 39.
A stylistically similar example of a tattooed male figure seated on a stool, of a larger size, hammered for $27,500 at Sotheby's, New York "Art of Africa, Oceania, and The Americas" auction (May 15, 2017, lot 85).
Provenance: ex-private collection of the late Father Bader, University of St. Thomas, Houston, Texas, USA; exhibited in the University of St. Thomas Art Gallery, acquired prior to 2000
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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#154405Both figures are repaired from multiple pieces, with chips along some areas, and resurfacing with overpainting along most break lines. Both figures have nicks and abrasions, fading to original pigmentation, softening to some finer details, and light encrustations. Nice earthen deposits, manganese blooms, and remains of original pigment throughout.Condition
- Shipping Info
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