Description:

Pre-Columbian, West Mexico, Colima culture, ca. 300 BCE to 300 CE. A fabulous burnished redware vessel depicting a male acrobat arching in a backbend position, his arms and legs forming the legs of the piece, a flared rim emerging from his abdominal area, his head, wearing a helmet-like covering, and genitalia delineated at either end. The piece boasts a substantial scale and nice burnishing. Given the contortionist's spectacular physical abilities, and his tranquil expression conveyed by closed coffee bean shaped eyes, he may represent a shaman undergoing a transformation. Size: 10.75" L x 7.375" W x 6.875" H (27.3 cm x 18.7 cm x 17.5 cm)

Similar examples may be found in the most respected museum collections such as the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) - accession number M.86.296.119 and the American Museum of Natural History

Cf. Kan, Meighan, & Nicholson, Sculpture of Ancient West Mexico, Nayarit, Jalisco, Colima, The Catalogue of the Proctor Stafford Collection, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, page 134, Fig. 116.

Provenance: private Santa Fe, New Mexico USA collection

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#124264

  • Condition: Normal surface wear with tiny nick here and there commensurate with age. Near invisible old losses to tip of nose, one ear, and rim of head wrap.

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June 29, 2017 7:00 AM MDT
Louisville, CO, US

Artemis Fine Arts

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