Pre-Columbian, Gulf Coast Mexico, Veracruz (Vera Cruz), Remojadas, ca. 600 to 800 CE. A handbuilt terracotta figure of a female dancer posing with outspread arms and legs and holding a spirit rattle in her raised right hand. She is beautifully dressed, wearing a blouse that is extensively decorated with appliques that may represent decorative fringe, bells, and shell-shaped ornaments and a full skirt painted with yellow with red stripes. In addition she is bedecked with large earspools, a magnificent necklace, and an elaborate headdress secured by a chin strap. Her visage is one of revery, presenting slit eyes, a pointy nose, and full lips with black bitumen highlighting her eyes, mouth, as well as most of her lower face and chinstrap. She is supported by her legs and a third figural leg behind which also hosts a whistle at its upper end. Size: 7" W x 11.5" H (17.8 cm x 29.2 cm)
Excavations near the modern Mexican town of Remojadas have revealed two types of impressive, detailed pottery figures from the Veracruz period: the Sonrientes, the joyous "smiling faces", and figures like this one, more serious, mostly adult figures, with elaborate costumes, themes, and sometimes props that all seem to point towards religious or political ceremonies. These figures are often found with the bodies broken into pieces though with the heads largely intact, as they were ritually destroyed as burial offerings. Their clothing suggests that they depict people of import in society, perhaps priests or nobility.
Provenance: ex-private Hollywood, California, USA collection, acquired from Ron Messick Fine Arts; ex-Platt Friedenberg Collection before 1990
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.
We ship worldwide and handle all shipping in-house for your convenience.
#101857
Condition
Head reattached to the body. Loss to lower end of skirt (at the left proper corner). Surface covered with manganese deposits.