Tall Nayarit San Sebastian Armored Warrior Figure

**Originally Listed At $5000**

Pre-Columbian, West Mexico, Nayarit, San Sebastian type, Protoclassic Period, ca. 100 BCE to 250 CE. A tall male warrior standing upon dramatically arched feet and stocky legs. The man presents nude from the waist down and wears a set of barrel-shaped armor exhibiting a cream-hued lower half and an upper half with dense linear striations that form broad diamond-shaped patterns. The way in which he wields the fragmentary club is suggestive of the sheer size of the missing striking head. His puffy, red-painted cheeks enhance his fearsome presentation along with coffee-bean-shaped eyes and ring-adorned ears, and topping his head is a bicorn helmet with incised motifs and red-tipped horns. Size: 6.75" W x 19" H (17.1 cm x 48.3 cm)

This figure stood guard in a shaft tomb, most likely placed so that it was facing outward around the perimeter of the tomb. Some scholars have theorized that this symbolically depicted a continuum between the worlds of the living and the dead. A brawny, militant protector with serious attitude from the ancients of West Mexico.

For a stylistically-similar example, please see The Los Angeles County Museum of Art, accession number AC1996.146.23

Provenance: private New York, New York, USA collection; ex-private New Jersey, USA collection, acquired around 1960

All items legal to buy/sell under U.S. Statute covering cultural patrimony Code 2600, CHAPTER 14, and are guaranteed to be as described or your money back.

A Certificate of Authenticity will accompany all winning bids.

PLEASE NOTE: Due to recent increases of shipments being seized by Australian & German customs (even for items with pre-UNESCO provenance), we will no longer ship most antiquities and ancient Chinese art to Australia & Germany. For categories of items that are acceptable to ship to Australia or Germany, please contact us directly or work with your local customs brokerage firm.

Display stands not described as included/custom in the item description are for photography purposes only and will not be included with the item upon shipping.

#156028
Condition Report: One end of club missing from antiquity, missing one right toe, chip to one left toe, horns invisibly reattached, liberal manganese blooms throughout.