Tall Veracruz Pottery Standing Warrior Figure w/ Grater

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Fine Antiquities, Ethnographic & Fine Art

By Artemis Gallery

Aug 13, 2020

Set Reminder 2020-08-13 10:00:00 2020-08-13 10:00:00 America/New_York Bidsquare Bidsquare : Fine Antiquities, Ethnographic & Fine Art https://www.bidsquare.com/auctions/artemis-gallery/fine-antiquities-ethnographic-fine-art-5415
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• Lot Description
  Pre-Columbian, Gulf Coast Mexico, Veracruz (Vera Cruz, also Totonac or Totonaca), Remojadas, ca. 300 to 600 CE. A sizable example of a warrior standing atop delineated legs and balancing with a third 'leg' protruding from his belted waist. The figure dons bangles on his wrists and ankles, wears a simple loincloth with a trapezoidal front cover, and is liberally covered in bituminous black pigment known as chapapote. The figure holds skyward one arm in a welcoming gesture and holds a rectangular plate with dozens of impressed holes meant to hold sharp stone fragments for quickly de-scaling fish. A sharp-angled nose pokes out between a pair of slender eyes, and a tall helmet is adorned with knotted bows on the upper corners and a pair of discoid ear spools. Size: 9.8" W x 19" H (24.9 cm x 48.3 cm)
  
  The sophisticated skills used by the artist to construct this piece demonstrate how advanced ceramic technology was in this culture. The arms, head, and legs, all hollow, were made separately and fitted onto the torso, with the joints smoothed over to disguise them. The fish-grater plate was also constructed separately, then pressed onto the surface of the body. The piece was fired all together after the clay had dried for a brief period. Imagine the workshop where this item was made - full of disembodied limbs and heads in the process of being sculpted into shape. Figures like this one are often found with the bodies smashed into pieces and the heads largely intact, as they were ritually destroyed as burial offerings.
  
  Provenance: private Pasadena, California, USA collection; ex-private estate collection, Los Angeles, California, USA, formed between 1970 and 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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  #153640

  Condition

  Repaired from multiple pieces, with restoration over areas of arms, legs, and head, and resurfacing with overpainting along new material and break lines. Losses to bottoms of each leg and areas of grating plate, raised hand, lips, ear spools, and headdress as shown. Nicks and abrasions to limbs, body, grater plate, and head, with heavy encrustations, and light fading to original black pigment. Nice earthen deposits and remains of original black pigment throughout.
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