Olmec Stone Figure Holding an Effigy Head, Guerrero region, Middle to Late Preclassic, 900 - 300 BC

Mathias Komor, New York

Georges de Batz, San Francisco, acquired from the above in the 1950s

Judith Small Nash, New York, acquired from the above

Acquired from the above on May 4, 1987

Carlo Gay and Frances Pratt, Mezcala: Ancient Stone Sculpture from Guerrero, Mexico, Geneva, 1992, p. 221, pl. 274

Carlo Gay states "This provocative figure, reportedly from Guerrero, is thematically and stylistically related to both the Mezcala and the Olmec traditions of portable stone sculpture [...]" (Carlo Gay and Frances Pratt, Mezcala: Ancient Stone Sculpture from Guerrero, Mexico, Geneva, 1992, p. 221). The robust, stocky figure holds a large effigy head that rests on a rectangular plaque or box resembling addorsed maize symbols shown by the grooves carved at each of the four sides. The effigy head is a full-cheeked rectangular face with minimal features. Its small mouth and narrow, arched eyes are repeated more elaborately on the face of the figure. The protagonist stands on bent legs, the massive and muscular body with rounded shoulders curving onto the back, his oval head is of a domed form of Olmec style and is turned slightly to the left. His mouth is distinctly trapezoidal, and the long arched eyes are narrowed as if squinting or in a trance, similar to certain ceramic figurines.

The presentation of an offering such as the effigy head is part of the important continuum of Olmec stone and ceramic "infant-bearers". The most renowned of stone sculptures are the Las Limas figure with deity infant on the lap and the Olmec jade standing figure holding a supernatural effigy, as well as images carved on monumental sculptures on La Venta Altar 5 and San Lorenzo Monuments 20 and 12. While the iconography of these sculptures varies widely, the element of the human offering, as a carved effigy or a complete figure, are part of important ceremonial rituals relating to the cycles of rebirth, rain and agriculture.

For Mezcala figures holding a head, see Gay and Pratt, ibid., p. 220, fig. 162a,b and pl. 273; for the Olmec examples see Michael D. Coe, ed., The Olmec World: Ritual and Rulership, Princeton, 1995, p. 159, fig. 2 and fig. 3, and p. 160, cat. no. 35.