Monumental Colima Figure, Seated Musician or Smoker
Pre-Columbian, Mexico, Colima, ca. 100 BCE – 250 CE. A large seated man raises his right fist while lifting a slender object to his lips with his left hand, head turned sharply aside. Modeled in burnished two-tone redware, the body is smoothed to a lustrous polish, the face reduced to an angular blade of a nose, lentoid eyes, and open spool ornaments piercing the ears. A double crescent-crested coiffure sweeps back from the brow. A wide band of incised geometric hatching, likely a woven sash or body wrap, girds the waist. Scattered mineral deposits remain across the surface. Such figures were placed in the deep shaft tombs of western Mexico as companions to the dead, and the gesture may represent an offering, a smoker, or a musician sounding a flute. Size: 15.125" W x 10.25" H (38.4 cm W x 26.0 cm H).
The shaft-tomb tradition of Colima, Jalisco, and Nayarit produced some of the most naturalistic ceramic sculpture in ancient Mesoamerica. Chambers cut ten to twenty meters below the surface, reached by vertical shafts, held family groups accompanied by burnished redware effigies: dogs, warriors, water carriers, ballplayers, and seated figures like this one. Because these tombs sat outside the monumental civic architecture typical of Mesoamerica, the region's sculptors worked to a domestic and narrative register rather than a state one, and the resulting figures read as portraits of a living community.
The high polish was achieved by burnishing the leather-hard surface with a smooth pebble before firing; the mottled black flecking and tonal shifts are firing clouds from an open, unevenly oxygenated kiln, not applied pigment. Incised bands like the one at this figure's waist are the potter's shorthand for textile, recording a woven garment that has not itself survived.
Provenance: Private New England collection, acquired from Anthropos Gallery, 2015. Ex. Federico Bermudez Family, Houston, TX., 1960’s.
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 #
73028
Condition
Overall scattered strong mineral deposits. Arms and legs reattached with restoration over the break lines.
Buyer's Premium
30%
Pre-Columbian, Mexico, Colima, ca. 100 BCE – 250 CE. A large seated man raises his right fist while lifting a slender object to his lips with his left hand, head turned sharply aside. Modeled in burnished two-tone redware, the body is smoothed to a lustrous polish, the face reduced to an angular blade of a nose, lentoid eyes, and open spool ornaments piercing the ears. A double crescent-crested coiffure sweeps back from the brow. A wide band of incised geometric hatching, likely a woven sash or body wrap, girds the waist. Scattered mineral deposits remain across the surface. Such figures were placed in the deep shaft tombs of western Mexico as companions to the dead, and the gesture may represent an offering, a smoker, or a musician sounding a flute. Size: 15.125" W x 10.25" H (38.4 cm W x 26.0 cm H).
The shaft-tomb tradition of Colima, Jalisco, and Nayarit produced some of the most naturalistic ceramic sculpture in ancient Mesoamerica. Chambers cut ten to twenty meters below the surface, reached by vertical shafts, held family groups accompanied by burnished redware effigies: dogs, warriors, water carriers, ballplayers, and seated figures like this one. Because these tombs sat outside the monumental civic architecture typical of Mesoamerica, the region's sculptors worked to a domestic and narrative register rather than a state one, and the resulting figures read as portraits of a living community.
The high polish was achieved by burnishing the leather-hard surface with a smooth pebble before firing; the mottled black flecking and tonal shifts are firing clouds from an open, unevenly oxygenated kiln, not applied pigment. Incised bands like the one at this figure's waist are the potter's shorthand for textile, recording a woven garment that has not itself survived.
Provenance: Private New England collection, acquired from Anthropos Gallery, 2015. Ex. Federico Bermudez Family, Houston, TX., 1960’s.
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 #
73028
Condition
Overall scattered strong mineral deposits. Arms and legs reattached with restoration over the break lines.
Buyer's Premium
30%
