Small anthropomorphic mask, Olmec Culture, Mexico... - Lot 101 - Giquello

Lot 101
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Estimation :
18000 - 20000 EUR
Small anthropomorphic mask, Olmec Culture, Mexico... - Lot 101 - Giquello
Small anthropomorphic mask, Olmec Culture, Mexico or Guatemala Preclassic, 900-400 B.C. Grey-green hard stone with shiny patina surface H. 12 cm - W. 11.5 cm Olmec mask, grey-green hard stone with shinny patina, Mexico or Guatemala H. 4 ¾ in - W. 4 ½ in Provenance: - Everett Rassiga, New York, active from the 1950s to the 1980s - Fine Arts of Ancient Lands, New York - Private collection, New York - Private collection, Paris Publication: - The Fifth Sun, Arts of Mexico, Musée Jacques Chirac, Sarran, 2012, reproduced on p. 48 as no. 9 Beautiful expressive face with features very representative of the Olmec culture. General circular shape showing a face with sunken open eyes formerly covered with a shell or pyrite element. Short, slightly flared nose, full, round cheeks, small, half-open lippa mouth, upper lip strongly turned up, rounded chin. On the sides, two large ribbons underline the ears. Concave reverse, the central part supporting a slight hollow. At the level of the forehead and the ears, three visible biconical perforations. See Au coeur de l'Amérique précolombienne, 2003, p. 154-155, n°107, a similar mask. This small mask characterizes the Olmec style. It is finely sculpted in a hard stone of beautiful color. It produces, despite its small size, an impression of monumentality. By its style, this mask can come from Guatemala. Olmec masks often combine the configuration of the jaguar's mouth, cheeks and eyes with that of a man, to form a man-jaguar, omnipresent in Olmec art. The jaguar, the most powerful animal of this region, was considered the personification of the supernatural force of the shaman or spiritual guide; the latter was likely to metamorphose into a jaguar during an ecstatic state.
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