Mexico, Huastec culture, Gulf Coast
250–600 AD
Sandstone
Height: 10¼ in (26 cm)
Provenance: Constance McCormick Fearing, Santa Barbara, California, acquired 1950s
The Huastec tradition of the northern Gulf Coast of Mexico is distinguished by its comparative naturalism and lifelike depictions of the human body, produced in the rich sandstone deposits along the shore by Teenek Maya-speaking artists working from the Early Classic period through the Spanish Conquest. Huastec sculptors concentrated their large-scale efforts on the human figure and head, producing works that range in color from ruddy brown to yellow-orange and grey depending on the local stone. Although originally embellished with bright pigments, surviving examples today bear only traces of their original polychrome.
This head is carved in a pale cream sandstone with a markedly elongated oval form, smooth modeled surfaces, and minimal incised detail, giving it a reductive sculptural presence that distinguishes it from the more detailed Huastec heads in the group. The elongated form may reflect cranial modification, a practice documented among Huastec and other Gulf Coast elite groups, or a regional stylistic convention for representing idealized facial proportion. The piece was acquired in the 1950s by Constance McCormick Fearing, whose Pre-Columbian collection was exhibited at LACMA in the 1960s with an accompanying catalog.
We ship free anywhere in the world, fully insured, packed by hand.
Mexico, Huastec culture, Gulf Coast
250–600 AD
Sandstone
Height: 10¼ in (26 cm)
Provenance: Constance McCormick Fearing, Santa Barbara, California, acquired 1950s
The Huastec tradition of the northern Gulf Coast of Mexico is distinguished by its comparative naturalism and lifelike depictions of the human body, produced in the rich sandstone deposits along the shore by Teenek Maya-speaking artists working from the Early Classic period through the Spanish Conquest. Huastec sculptors concentrated their large-scale efforts on the human figure and head, producing works that range in color from ruddy brown to yellow-orange and grey depending on the local stone. Although originally embellished with bright pigments, surviving examples today bear only traces of their original polychrome.
This head is carved in a pale cream sandstone with a markedly elongated oval form, smooth modeled surfaces, and minimal incised detail, giving it a reductive sculptural presence that distinguishes it from the more detailed Huastec heads in the group. The elongated form may reflect cranial modification, a practice documented among Huastec and other Gulf Coast elite groups, or a regional stylistic convention for representing idealized facial proportion. The piece was acquired in the 1950s by Constance McCormick Fearing, whose Pre-Columbian collection was exhibited at LACMA in the 1960s with an accompanying catalog.
We ship free anywhere in the world, fully insured, packed by hand.
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