Huge Huastec Stone Figure | Tlazolteotl Type, Boundary Marker
Pre-Columbian, Mexico, Northern Veracruz, Huastec culture, ca. 900–1525 CE. A monumental slab figure carved from gray volcanic stone, standing frontally beneath a wide crescent headdress crowned by a pointed conical hat. The face is worked in low relief with lidded almond eyes and a parted mouth, flanked by long tresses ending in disc ear ornaments. Both hands rest against the stomach above a knee-length skirt, and paired disc breasts identify the figure as female. Openwork perforations separate the arms from the torso, and an integral tang below the feet was made for setting the sculpture upright in the ground. The pitted, weathered surface carries a deep ancient patina. Such figures likely served as territorial or agricultural boundary markers, and perhaps as representations of a fertility deity. Size: 15" W x 40" H (38.1 cm W x 101.6 cm H); Size of stand: 43" H (109.2 cm H).
The Huastecs occupied the humid lowlands of northern Veracruz and adjoining San Luis Potosi and Tamaulipas, speaking a Mayan language separated by centuries and hundreds of miles from the Maya heartland. Their Postclassic sculptors developed a distinctive idiom of flat, frontal sandstone and volcanic-stone figures set against fan-shaped or crescent back slabs, a silhouette unlike anything else in Mesoamerica. Female examples with hands folded at the abdomen, conical hats, and skirt-clad bodies are conventionally associated with the fertility and earth complex the Aztecs later absorbed as Tlazolteotl, a goddess of childbirth, purification, and carnality whom central Mexican sources explicitly named as Huastec in origin. Erected in open ground rather than architecture, such stelae marked fields, community limits, and shrines.
Provenance: Ex. Property of a national insurance company, purchased ca. 1970.
**Shipping charges shown are for sculpture only, shipped in cardboard boxes. We recommend a wooden crate for safety. Additional cost for crate: $400.
The custom pedestal base will cost an additional $850 domestic, $1,750 non-USA, plus $450 for a wooden crate.**
SHIPPING: We coordinate worldwide shipping in-house through specialist international forwarders experienced with fine art and antiquities customs manifests. International buyers must confirm, prior to bidding, that their country's customs authority will accept the item. All duties, taxes, clearance fees, and any costs arising from customs delays, seizures, re-export, returns, or loss in transit are the buyer's sole responsibility. Artemis assumes no liability for items refused entry, detained, or lost after export. We cannot ship ancient items to their country of origin (Egyptian to Egypt, Greek to Greece, etc.).For those not using LiveAuctioneers' Live Ship program, Artemis Fine Arts offers expert in-house packing and worldwide shipping. With over 20 years of experience, our team provides careful, reliable, and affordable service. For a quick quote on this lot, please contact support@artemisfinearts.com prior to the auction, or call 720-890-7700.
PAYMENT EXCEPTION: For clients not previously established with Artemis, payment for all gold, precious metal, and gemstone lots must be made by bank wire transfer or certified bank check/money order, without exception.
Item #
73041
Condition
Excellent ancient surface patina. Intact, with some minor imperfections, overall excellent condition, with normal surface weathering.
Buyer's Premium
30%
Estimate
Reserve
Time, Location
Auction House
Pre-Columbian, Mexico, Northern Veracruz, Huastec culture, ca. 900–1525 CE. A monumental slab figure carved from gray volcanic stone, standing frontally beneath a wide crescent headdress crowned by a pointed conical hat. The face is worked in low relief with lidded almond eyes and a parted mouth, flanked by long tresses ending in disc ear ornaments. Both hands rest against the stomach above a knee-length skirt, and paired disc breasts identify the figure as female. Openwork perforations separate the arms from the torso, and an integral tang below the feet was made for setting the sculpture upright in the ground. The pitted, weathered surface carries a deep ancient patina. Such figures likely served as territorial or agricultural boundary markers, and perhaps as representations of a fertility deity. Size: 15" W x 40" H (38.1 cm W x 101.6 cm H); Size of stand: 43" H (109.2 cm H).
The Huastecs occupied the humid lowlands of northern Veracruz and adjoining San Luis Potosi and Tamaulipas, speaking a Mayan language separated by centuries and hundreds of miles from the Maya heartland. Their Postclassic sculptors developed a distinctive idiom of flat, frontal sandstone and volcanic-stone figures set against fan-shaped or crescent back slabs, a silhouette unlike anything else in Mesoamerica. Female examples with hands folded at the abdomen, conical hats, and skirt-clad bodies are conventionally associated with the fertility and earth complex the Aztecs later absorbed as Tlazolteotl, a goddess of childbirth, purification, and carnality whom central Mexican sources explicitly named as Huastec in origin. Erected in open ground rather than architecture, such stelae marked fields, community limits, and shrines.
Provenance: Ex. Property of a national insurance company, purchased ca. 1970.
**Shipping charges shown are for sculpture only, shipped in cardboard boxes. We recommend a wooden crate for safety. Additional cost for crate: $400.
The custom pedestal base will cost an additional $850 domestic, $1,750 non-USA, plus $450 for a wooden crate.**
SHIPPING: We coordinate worldwide shipping in-house through specialist international forwarders experienced with fine art and antiquities customs manifests. International buyers must confirm, prior to bidding, that their country's customs authority will accept the item. All duties, taxes, clearance fees, and any costs arising from customs delays, seizures, re-export, returns, or loss in transit are the buyer's sole responsibility. Artemis assumes no liability for items refused entry, detained, or lost after export. We cannot ship ancient items to their country of origin (Egyptian to Egypt, Greek to Greece, etc.).For those not using LiveAuctioneers' Live Ship program, Artemis Fine Arts offers expert in-house packing and worldwide shipping. With over 20 years of experience, our team provides careful, reliable, and affordable service. For a quick quote on this lot, please contact support@artemisfinearts.com prior to the auction, or call 720-890-7700.
PAYMENT EXCEPTION: For clients not previously established with Artemis, payment for all gold, precious metal, and gemstone lots must be made by bank wire transfer or certified bank check/money order, without exception.
Item #
73041
Condition
Excellent ancient surface patina. Intact, with some minor imperfections, overall excellent condition, with normal surface weathering.
Buyer's Premium
30%
Estimate
Reserve
Time, Location
Auction House
