Lot 81
Pre-Columbian, Central Mexico, Guerrero region, Chontal, Late Preclassic period, ca. 300 to 100 BCE. A fantastic and substantial example of a stone carving from Guerrero, Mexico, a region best known for Mezcala and Chontal sculpture. Simplistic with the facial features rendered to the bare minimum as raised ridges or shallow depressions, the geometric visage is unmistakably human. The features were achieved via sophisticated carving and string cutting techniques. A single hole is biconically drilled through the top of the head for suspension. Scholars believe that such masks were tied to funerary bundles of the noble elite to mark their passing and give them identity in the grave. Outside the grave, the dead were sometimes represented in art merely by a mask, or a mask set upon a small pyramid. Size: 6.5" L x 6" W (16.5 cm x 15.2 cm)
The Guerrero region of modern-day southwestern Mexico was the center of the Mezcala and Chontal stone carving traditions. While Mezcala artists are known for their abstract, geometric style, the Chontal sculptors imbued their artworks with more naturalism. Although their stonework stems from the Preclassic period, ca. 300 to 100 BCE, later Mesoamerican peoples clearly cherished Chontal portable sculptures as heirlooms. Chontal creations have been unearthed in ritual caches at Templo Mayor, the principal temple of the 15th century Aztecs of Tenochtitlan (Mexico City). Modernists such as Diego Rivera, Frida Kahlo, and Miguel Covarrubias appreciated the minimalist qualities of Chontal art. Covarrubias went so far as to compare it to the Cycladic style of ancient Greece.
Provenance: private Healy collection, Studio City, California, USA, acquired October 5, 2020; ex-Arte Primitivo; ex-Maza Family collection, Whittier, California, USA, acquired in the 1960s; ex-Fernandez Family collection, via descent, 1940s
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#175143
- Condition: Chips to nose and other minor surface abrasions, otherwise intact and excellent. Mineral and earthen encrustations on surface.
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