Lot 17B
Pre-Columbian, Valley of Mexico, Mixtec people, ca. 1200 to 1400 CE. A rare figural example of the Tlaloc, the Mixtec god of rain, featured in a seated pose atop an integral stool. Hand-carved from coarse, beige-hued stone with dark green inclusions, the columnar figure presents with bent legs angled inwards, both hands atop his knees, while he leans forward in a slightly hunched pose. The enlarged head exhibits enormous, concentric circular eyes, a bar-shaped nose with sharply angled nostrils, flared ears, and a triangular mouth filled with fangs, all beneath a backswept coiffure. Powdery white pigment within some recessed areas suggests how elaborately this figure was decorated when first carved. Size: 3.375" W x 6.625" H (8.6 cm x 16.8 cm)
Tlaloc is the Mesoamerican rain deity who, with his axe made of lightning, strikes the clouds and produces thunder and rain. In an iconographic sense, he is often shown with goggles around his eyes and large fangs. He is also frequently represented in artwork from Teotihuacan, the Aztecs, and seems to have been one of the most commonly depicted of the Mesoamerican gods. His impersonators wore his distinctive goggle mask and a headdress capped by heron feathers (which this piece presumably once had). During the religious festival known as Etzalcualiztli, the "Meal of Cooked Maize," Tlaloc symbolically died - and Tlaloc impersonators may have also died, as sacrifices.
Cf. The Metropolitan Museum of Art for a mask depicting Tlaloc, accession number 1979.206.1062
Provenance: Whisnant Gallery, New Orleans, Louisiana, USA acquired prior to 2000
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#169821
- Condition: Small nicks and chips to some surfaces as expected, with minor softening to some finer details, and light encrustations, otherwise intact and excellent. Great preservation to overall form and figural details.
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