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Sorry This item has sold
Ca. 1800 BC – 1500 BC
Description: The rarest of all pre-Columbian ceramic figures in the world this Xatlitia/ Olmec Standing Female Figure just pre dates some of the Olmec cultures, yet they are very refined, delicate and so detailed in the clothing and hair styles. We have just acquired the world’s best collection of these Venus type figures. I have long collected fine miniature figures and I was overjoyed to add a group of these to my personal collection. Little is known about these figures, a showing at Princeton University in 1970 first showed these figures to the world. Currently only a few museums in the world even have one of these figures. Currently The Peabody at Harvard has six in their collection, Dallas Art museum has three and Princeton has about eight. There has been one book specifically written about them “Xochipala The Beginnings of Olmec Art.” By: Gay, Carlo T.E. These figures were discovered in the state of Guerrero in the Xochipala basin, a place called El Zacatoso on the southern, mountainous region of Xochipala basin.
This particular figure is an extremely is one of the best in the collection and shows a standing male dressed in full ball player garb, shin guards, belt and wears a large thick necklace. He holds what appears to be a knife of a flute. His face is realistically male, red paint surrounds his mouth and we see one of the first uses of the top nock / Shamanistic horn in the pre-Columbian culture. His long hair is nearly to his waist and done in a dreadlock fashion with decorations woven in at the bottom, stunning! He is mounted on a custom steel stand. I purchased one (the best one) outright from the collection for myself and I can tell you it was the highest price I have ever paid for a ceramic figure under 12 inches. The only auction records come from two plain ware bowls found with the figures. These bowls were 3 inches long and devoid of decoration. They were sold at Christies New York for $1,980.00 each in 2006. (see link) http://www.christies.com/LotFinder/lot_details.aspx?intObjectID=4821054 The new owner (s) understand that we hold the right to publish the images of these figures in an upcoming book.
Condition: Head, left arm, left leg re-attached tip of flute restored.
Dimension: Height: 4.75 inches Width: 1 7/8 inches
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