Lot 68
Pre-Columbian, West Mexico, Jalisco, Ameca Gray type, Etzatlan style, ca. 100 BCE to 200 CE. A skillfully, hand-built and hand-modeled bichrome sculpture depicting a seated, conjoined couple, facing forward, arm-in-arm. Their white-slipped visages are very similar, both presenting wide-open bulging thick-lidded eyes, prominent noses, open mouths with parted lips revealing delineated teeth, pointy chins, and ears that stick out in a somewhat humorous fashion. They wear matching headdresses with central crests flanked by rope-like adornments. Both are shirtless; the female wears a white skirt; the male white leg coverings. A special male-female couple from the West Mexican Shaft Tomb tradition, created to be placed in tombs and accompany the deceased for all eternity. Size: 12.375" W x 10.375" H (31.4 cm x 26.4 cm)
Male-female couples like this example may be found in various positions - standing, sitting with crossed legs, or perched upon stools. The ancients of West Mexico enjoyed a period of rich prosperity between 300 BCE and 300 CE, and their elite members had long familial lineages. Scholars believe these families endured for many generations, and West Mexican renderings of conjoined male-female couples are thought to demonstrate this deep lineage of their founders or divine ancestors. Some scholars have also suggested that they represent marriage and fertility.
See a similar example on p. 39 of the Dallas Museum of Art - A Guide to the Collection (2012) - https://issuu.com/dallasmuseumofart/docs/dallasmuseumofart_guidetothecollection/41
Provenance: private American collection, acquired prior to 1960
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#131048
- Condition: Repair to small section of underside (right buttocks) of female. Normal surface wear with slight abraded areas commensurate with age. Scattered manganese deposits and burnishing marks on the surface.
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