GARDE

GARDE

*Rare and important masterfully modeled statuette of a reclining figure, his head resting gracefully on one of his hands. His body is shaped by generous forms, personifying this dignitary at rest or under the effect of a powerful hallucinogen. His skull features an upward cranial deformity. Earthenware with beige slip, traces of cinnabar and localized red ochre pigments. Olmec, Las Bocas, Puebla region, Mexico, 1150 - 800 B.C. 16 x 7.1 x 7.8 cm Thermoluminescence analyses from QED and Oxford laboratories will be sent to the buyer. Provenance: Former Guy Joussemet collection since 1968. Former Yvon Collet collection, 1995. Bibliography: The Jaguar's children, Pre-Classic Central Mexico, the Museum of Primitive Art, New York, New York Graphic Society editions, Greenwich 1965, p.118, fig. 199, for a work close to the former collection of Mr. Jay C. Leff, Uniontown, Pa, Usa. This magnificent sculpture of an elongated figure is one of the finest Olmec figurines, typical of the Las Bocas site on the central high plateau. The delicacy of its features, the accuracy of its proportions, the balance of its posture, the intense serenity that emanates from its face, and its perfect finish make it a masterpiece that radiates immediate emotion. The uncluttered treatment, with no outward sign of social class, indicates that the artist sought to restore, in a primarily spiritual gesture, a kind of universal ideal. A socio-aesthetic ideal visible through the care given to the head and face, which correspond to Olmec conventions, but also a quality of soul perceptible through the particular aura of this figure.