Olmecoid Miniature Wood Standing Female Figure, Pre-ClassicPre-Columbian, Mexico, Olmecoid, possibly...
Olmecoid Miniature Wood Standing Female Figure, Pre-ClassicPre-Columbian, Mexico, Olmecoid, possibly early Maya, 200 BCE. A miniature standing female carved in wood, nude and stout, her hands raised to cradle both breasts. The sculptor pared the body to essentials: heavy rounded hips, a swelling stomach, short columnar legs, and a long dressed coiffure falling behind the shoulders. The broad face carries a bow-shaped upper lip, heavy lids, and an oval recessed panel on each cheek that likely once held inlays of shell, pyrite, or stone. Deep ancient patina warms the grain to a russet brown. Wood almost never survives from Pre-Classic Mesoamerica, and the fertility emphasis of the pose suggests a votive or personal amuletic function rather than a domestic one. Presented on a custom lucite base. Size: 3.75" W x 1.625" H (9.5 cm W x 4.1 cm H).
Perishable media are the great absence in the Pre-Classic record. Wood, textile, and basketry rotted away in the humid lowlands, leaving jade, ceramic, and stone to stand in for entire visual traditions. The handful of surviving wooden figures, most preserved by unusual burial conditions in caves, cenotes, or dry rockshelters, show that carvers worked the same vocabulary of massed volumes and downturned mouths familiar from Olmec greenstone, and that the celebrated "Olmec style" was never confined to hard stone.
The recessed cheek panels are the telling detail. Inlaying the face with contrasting materials is a persistent Mesoamerican habit, running from Olmec masks with shell and iron-ore insets to later Maya mosaic work, and it argues that this figure was made to be seen closely and probably held.
Provenance: NYC. collection; Ex. Veracruzana Inc. NYC., 1960’s; to Edward H. Merrin Gallery, Inc., 1968-69.
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.).
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 #73006Excellent ancient surface patina. Scattered stable age splits. Missing tip of her left toe, minor loss on right side of her nose, and some scattered surface weathering.
Olmecoid Miniature Wood Standing Female Figure, Pre-ClassicPre-Columbian, Mexico, Olmecoid, possibly early Maya, 200 BCE. A miniature standing female carved in wood, nude and stout, her hands raised to cradle both breasts. The sculptor pared the body to essentials: heavy rounded hips, a swelling stomach, short columnar legs, and a long dressed coiffure falling behind the shoulders. The broad face carries a bow-shaped upper lip, heavy lids, and an oval recessed panel on each cheek that likely once held inlays of shell, pyrite, or stone. Deep ancient patina warms the grain to a russet brown. Wood almost never survives from Pre-Classic Mesoamerica, and the fertility emphasis of the pose suggests a votive or personal amuletic function rather than a domestic one. Presented on a custom lucite base. Size: 3.75" W x 1.625" H (9.5 cm W x 4.1 cm H).
Perishable media are the great absence in the Pre-Classic record. Wood, textile, and basketry rotted away in the humid lowlands, leaving jade, ceramic, and stone to stand in for entire visual traditions. The handful of surviving wooden figures, most preserved by unusual burial conditions in caves, cenotes, or dry rockshelters, show that carvers worked the same vocabulary of massed volumes and downturned mouths familiar from Olmec greenstone, and that the celebrated "Olmec style" was never confined to hard stone.
The recessed cheek panels are the telling detail. Inlaying the face with contrasting materials is a persistent Mesoamerican habit, running from Olmec masks with shell and iron-ore insets to later Maya mosaic work, and it argues that this figure was made to be seen closely and probably held.
Provenance: NYC. collection; Ex. Veracruzana Inc. NYC., 1960’s; to Edward H. Merrin Gallery, Inc., 1968-69.
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.).
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 #73006Excellent ancient surface patina. Scattered stable age splits. Missing tip of her left toe, minor loss on right side of her nose, and some scattered surface weathering.
