Lot 75
Pre-Columbian, Mexico, Veracruz culture, ca. 6th to 8th century CE. A very large and impressive terracotta lid for an incensario in the form of a human head, torso, and arms. The head is wonderfully detailed, with applied round balls of clay set into almond-shaped eye sockets, an open mouth in a lifelike expression, and ears with dangling earrings that are sculpted to look like canine teeth, perhaps from a jaguar. The figure wears a simple cap with a lightly raised brim and a necklace that mirrors the form of the brim. Thick, black chapopote pigment, a hallmark of Veracruz art from this period made from petroleum-rich earth deposits, has been used to paint the eyes, a circle around one eye, and a rectangle down the opposite cheek, giving the figure a rather David Bowie-like appearance (if you can recall his Ziggy Stardust persona). These markings undoubtedly had meaning to the people the sculpture was made for, perhaps indicating a profession or social group. Size: 9.25" L x 12.75" W x 14.5" H (23.5 cm x 32.4 cm x 36.8 cm)
Incense played a major role in religious practice in Mesoamerica, from the Olmec period onward. Many tombs are outfitted with incensarios and the items also seem to have been used in ceremonies by the living. Incense was made from copal, tree resin from the torchwood tree. By burning copal, Mesoamerican priests made an offering to the gods - for example, during an Aztec ceremony for the god Huitzilopochtli, the hummingbird-formed god of war, priests hoped that their prayers would be carried upward along with the wafting smoke and scent.
This figure combines the amazing style of the Veracruz, who had the ability to combine realistic features (see here, for example, the naturalistic face) with stylized items (the body forming the lid). 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 smashed into pieces and the heads largely intact - they were ritually destroyed as burial offerings. Their clothing suggests that they depict people of import in society, maybe priests or nobility.
Provenance: private collection of Lupita Tovar, silent screen actress of the 1930s, Bel-Air, California, USA
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#124896
- Condition: Multiple repairs, most of them on the back of the piece; hands are lost. Face is in excellent condition.
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