Lot 132
Pre-Columbian, southeastern Mexico, Yucatan Peninsula, Campeche, Jaina Island, Maya, Late Classic Period, ca. 600 to 850 CE. A stunning, hand-modeled standing figure depicting a high-caste male dignitary with sandaled feet and wearing a lengthy skirt around a slender, exposed waist and rounded shoulders. Incised almond-shaped eyes, a prominent nose, puffy, slightly-parted lips, and enormous conical ear spools comprise the finely-sculpted visage. Atop the smooth brow is an elaborate headdress with a central sloping point, a tall brim, two rectangular flaps gracing the shoulders, and locks of striated hair flowing out from behind. Traces of orange-red and black pigment are visible in scattered areas across the legs and body. This is an important example of Jaina figurative art because of the regal, naturalistic presentation and the superb artistic talent that was crucial to its creation. Custom wooden display stand included. Size: 3" W x 8.125" H (7.6 cm x 20.6 cm); 8.9" H (22.6 cm) on included custom stand.
Jaina figures, from an island off the Yucatan Peninsula, are noted for their lifelike faces and their immense detail. The clothing that this figure wears almost certainly copies the real clothing of a person in the Late Classic Maya period. These figures suggest that they are representative of actual people, some of which were produced in Campeche and brought to Jaina Island to be buried with the dead. Fascinatingly, the people around Jaina are the only people in southeastern Mesoamerica who put human figures into graves - figures have only been found in domestic contexts most everywhere else in this region.
The use of human figures immediately calls to mind the earlier West Mexican cultures that had extensive figures made solely to be placed in their shaft tombs. Scholars believe that Jaina figures represented real individuals, especially these hand-modeled examples (some later ones were made in a bivalve mold). The Spaniard Diego de Landa, who recorded details of Mayan life shortly after the Spanish Conquest, wrote that artists who created pieces like this one lived lives of religious isolation as well as ritual fasting and abstention.
This piece has been tested using thermoluminescence (TL) analysis and has been found to be ancient and of the period stated. A full report will accompany purchase.
Provenance: private Southern California, USA collection, acquired in the 1970s to mid-1980s
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#141276
- Condition: Repair to one foot, part of longer arm, and upper lip, with small chips and light adhesive residue along break lines. Losses to some sandal components and parts of both arms, minor nicks to legs, body, arms, and head, fading to most original pigmentation, and light encrustations. Nice earthen deposits and faint traces of pigmentation throughout. Two probe holes, one beneath right foot and one beneath left shoulder.
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