This is undoubtedly one of the finest collections of Pre-Colombian art that will be auctioned off by Binoche and Giquello on March 31. A remarkable ensemble of masterpieces from western Mexico and located in the current states of Nayarit, Colima, Jalisco and also Guanajuato with the Chupicuaro culture.

These treasures will mainly attract savvy collectors, invited to discover surprisingly modern shapes, to dream about the beauty of these works from the distant past and to savor what André Malraux called « The Imaginary Museum of World Sculptures ».
« We were fortunate to be able to choose a series of objects from a very important collection covering Mesoamerica, Central America and South America, out of friendship and trust with a NewYork family.
A large collection could be created only by a person of great taste and a great patron of art.
These fine Precolumbian objects, presented in the Binoche et Giquello sale, demonstrate very well, how this collector knew before others, to recognize, understand and love works whose aesthetic qualities are universal. »
Jacques BLAZY, expert in Pre-Columbian Art
Most of the figurines in this collection are made of ceramic and date from the Proto-Classic period (100 BC - 250 AC). They have appeared in numerous exhibitions, particularly at the Art Institute of Chicago and at the County Museum of Art in Los Angeles in the 1990's for the largest exhibition ever held on Village Cultures in the west of Mexico titled «Ancient West Mexico.» (Art and Archeologyof the Unknown Past).
The Other Venus of Chupicuaro
Today covered by the waters of a dam built in 1947, Chupicuaro was a very important site inwestern Mexico during the Preclassic period. Ceramics was one of the main activities of this region, among the most beautiful ones of Mesoamerica.
The Venus Callipyge of Chupicuaro proposed at auction is reminiscent of the one preserved in the Musée du Quai Branly - Jacques Chirac, of which she is now the muse. By style and size, these two Venuses are sisters, certainly coming from the same workshop. The modernity of its graphics seduces as much as the voluptuousness of its forms and the brilliance of its colors. Goddess Mother or Mother Earth, millennium, this feminine figure has preserved all its brilliance and its mysteries. (120 000 / 130 000 €)
Then, two exceptional masks will be presented, one of which, in onyx, comes from the old Peter G Wray collection. (120 000 / 150 000 €)
   
Also proposed:
A Chinesco style Parturiente from Nayarit. This statuette of a seated woman, of the Protoclassic period (100 BC - 250 AC), in red-brown ceramic, bears ornamental traces of black pigment. (80 000 / 100 000 €)
Village Scene with a Terracotta Volador, Period Protoclassic (100 BC, 250 BC), Nayarit Culture of Western Mexico. (€ 10,000 / € 15,000)
A set of stone figures, hieratic and stylized, from the State of Guerrero, in the western part of Mexico, and dating from the end of the Pre-classical period (300 - 100 BC)
A Chontal mask from the state of Guerrero, Pre-classical period (300 - 100 BC) (35 000 / 40 000 €)
A rare jade pendant from Mayan culture of a classic period (300-600 AC) representing a monkey head. (60 000 / 70 000€)
Public exhibition – Drouot - Sales Room 4 
Thursday, March, 30th – 11 am / 9 pm
Friday March, 31st - 11 am / 1 pm
Auction – Drouot - Sales Room 4
Friday, March, 31st - 4pm

to browse the catalogue, click on the following link :

Importante collection américaine d'Art précolombien vendredi 31 mars 2017 16:00 Salle 4 - Drouot-Richelieu, 9, rue Drouot 75009 Paris