View full screen - View 1 of Lot 14. Olmec Standing Figure, Middle Preclassic, circa 900-600 BC.

Property from an American Private Collection

Olmec Standing Figure, Middle Preclassic, circa 900-600 BC

Lot Closed

November 21, 07:15 PM GMT

Estimate

7,000 - 10,000 USD

Lot Details

Description

Property from an American Private Collection


Olmec Standing Figure

Middle Preclassic, circa 900-600 BC


Height: 4 ⅞ in (12.4 cm)

Raúl Kamffer, Kamffer Gallery, Mexico City
Private Collection, acquired from the above in 1966
By descent to the family of the present owner in 1989

The Art Museum, Princeton University, Princeton, New Jersey, The Olmec World: Ritual and Rulership, December 16, 1995 - February 25, 1996; additional venue: The Museum of Replica Handbags s, Houston, April 14 - June 9, 1996

The Walters Art Museum, Baltimore, Ancient America, long-term loan, 2001-2011

Michael D. Coe, ed. The Olmec World: Ritual and Rulership, Princeton, 1995, p. 150, cat. no. 21
The relaxed standing posture is a classic form of the Olmec meditative stance and is believed to be one stage of a transformation process. Here the legs are slightly bent and arms are held slightly away from the torso loosely by the side. The slender shoulders are slightly pulled back indicating his internal motion. His large and robust face show parted trapezoidal lips, a broad nose, and narrowed recessed eyes with a drilled pupil indicated in the left socket. The figure is carved in a deep greenish-black serpentine and polished to a glistening surface.