Art of Africa, Oceania and the Americas
Art of Africa, Oceania and the Americas
Auction Closed
May 13, 08:41 PM GMT
Estimate
15,000 - 25,000 USD
Lot Details
Description
Property from an American Private Collection
NAYARIT SEATED MALE FIGURE, IXTLÁN DEL RIO STYLE PROTOCLASSIC, CIRCA 100 BC-AD 250
Height: 13 ½ in (34.4 cm)
D. Daniel Michel, acquired in 1957 (inventory no. 57:024)
Ancient Art of the New World, New York, acquired from the above
American Private Collection, acquired in 1991
PUBLISHED
Alan Wardwell, Primitive Art in Chicago Collections, Chicago, 1960, cat. no. 27
The Art Institute of Chicago, 1959, temporary loan from D. Daniel Michel
The Art Institute of Chicago, Primitive Art in Chicago Collections, November 16, 1960-January 2, 1961
The highly decorated and evocative figure is in mourning, shown by the scarified cheeks from the ritual of cheek-piercing and his slender taut body from fasting, showing his ribcage and spine. Townsend identified the vertical incisions of cheek-piercing as one of the expressions of mourning associated with funerary ceremonies. Townsend notes "During mourning the living and the deceased constitute a special group temporarily suspended between the worlds of the living and the dead. In some cases, this phase invokes the ritual cutting of hair, inflicting wounds, and the use of some professional mourners." (Townsend, "Before Gods, Before Kings", in Townsend, ed. Ancient West Mexico, Art and Archaeology of the Unknown Past, 1998, p. 133).