Remarkable Olmec Pottery Wailing Baby Figure

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Exceptional Antiquities Ethnographic Fine Art...

By Artemis Gallery

Nov 10, 2022

Set Reminder 2022-11-10 10:00:00 2022-11-10 10:00:00 America/New_York Bidsquare Bidsquare : Exceptional Antiquities Ethnographic Fine Art https://www.bidsquare.com/auctions/artemis-gallery/exceptional-antiquities-ethnographic-fine-art-11148
Museum-worthy examples of classical antiquities (Egyptian, Greek, Roman, Near Eastern), Viking, Far East / Asian, Pre-Columbian, African / Tribal, Oceanic, Native American, Spanish Colonial, Nautical, Fossils, Ancient Jewelry, Fine / Visual Arts, so much more! Artemis Gallery info@artemisgallery.com

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• Lot Description
  Pre-Columbian, Mexico, Olmec culture, ca. 10th to 6th century BCE. A dramatic terracotta figure of a seated human baby, posed with legs akimbo and both hands resting on chubby thighs. Enveloped in lovely remains of white, beige, and gray slip on a red ground, the child presents a round belly, a recessed navel, and no visible sex. The plump arms and legs terminate in petite feet and hands that emphasize the shape of the body. The sizeable head displays the expressive visage of a crying infant - with narrow, squinting eyes, a broad nose, and a large, gaping mouth showing a few upper teeth and full lips. A pair of naturalistic ears flank the face, each featuring pierced lobes for suspending ornaments, sitting just below the elongated forehead. Note the artist's careful attention to detail, as evident by not only the delineated fingers and fleshy folds of the body and limbs, but also the realism of the countenance - portrayed so vividly the viewer is left surprised their own ears do not ring with the piercing wails of a child! Size: 14.3" W x 12.8" H (36.3 cm x 32.5 cm)
  
  The Olmec are famous for their human depictions; as the first major civilization in this fertile area, their artwork inspired the civilizations that came after them to the point that we think some of them even revered Olmec artwork and kept it as heirlooms. Figures of this style are known as "baby face," with plump bodies and chubby, pouty facial features. Infants are a recurring theme from Olmec art, and this one would likely have once been white-slipped to match other known examples. The shape of their heads - like this one - have been attributed to deliberate skull shaping. For an interesting article about Olmec baby figures see "Olmec Babies as Early Portraiture in the Americas" by James Doyle, Assistant Curator, Department of the Arts of Africa, Oceania, and the Americas, April 17, 2015.
  
  Cf. Yale University Art Gallery, ILE2009.20.3, Gardiner Museum in Toronto, G83.1.10, and Kimbell Art Museum, AP 1971.02. An Olmec pottery seated baby of similar size and form sold for $89,625 at Christie's, New York "Important Pre-Columbian Art: A European Private Collection" auction (Live Auction 1537, November 12th, 2004, lot 12); another sold for $276,000 at Sotheby's, New York "The Saul And Marsha Stanoff Collection" auction (sale number N08386, May 17, 2007, lot 51).
  
  Provenance: private Hidden Valley Lake, California, USA collection, purchased on July 11, 2019; ex-Artemis Gallery; ex-Adeon Gallery, Chicago, Illinois, USA, acquired before 1974
  
  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.
  
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  #170462

  Condition

  Figure is repaired and restored from numerous pieces and in the process was refired (which eliminates the option of conducting a TL test), with overpaint along the repair lines and approximately 5% new material. Much of the original pigment remains on the figure. When originally acquired by Artemis the piece was unassembled in a cardboard box where it had sat for almost 50 years. There were areas of root marks and liberal dendrites that were removed by the initial buyer during the restoration process.
• Shipping Info

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