Pair of Important Zapotec Figures - SOLD
Circa 200 AD
Height 15.25" Pair
Provenance: Constance McCormick Fearing Santa Barbara, CA, before 1960
Jalisco, near Teocaltiche, Zacatecas culture, Protoclassic period. A fabulous pair of hollow-built pottery figures seated on ample thighs and conical posteriors. The figures present nude with vibrant red slip as the ground for further cream and black negative resist linear and geometric motifs which course across the chest, legs, arms, and heads. button-shaped hair nodules projecting from the man’s brow. Hollow figures like these examples are found throughout areas of Jalisco, Mexico within deep shaft tombs which suggest they are offerings to the deceased. Two striking examples from ancient West Mexico
The sculptural creations from the Zacatecas peoples are some of the most admired figures to come out of ancient West Mexico. The consistency of form as well as the bright, recognizable colors of the slip pigmentation, and highly-abstract presentation make them some of the most unique ceramic statues from anywhere in the world, and male/female figures like these examples are often found in pairs exhibiting similar stylization. Though specific to areas of Jalisco, Mexico, these statues are often scarce as scholars believe they were produced only for a brief period of ancient Mesoamerican history.
For a few strikingly-similar examples, please see: Kan, Michael, Clement Meighan, and H. B. Nicholson. “Sculpture of Ancient West Mexico: Nayarit, Jalisco, Colima: A Catalogue of the Proctor Stafford Collection at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art.” University of New Mexico Press, Albuquerque, New Mexico, 1989, pp. 126-127, figs. 99 a-b, 102.
A pair of strikingly-similar examples hammered for $21,250 at Sotheby’s, New York “The Collection of Edwin & Cherie Silver” auction (November 13, 2017, lot 32