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AN IMPORTANT STONE EFFIGY YOKE, VERACRUZ, CLASSIC PERIOD
奥地利 北京时间
2022年03月11日 开拍
拍品描述
AN IMPORTANT STONE EFFIGY YOKE, VERACRUZ, CLASSIC PERIOD
Classic Veracruz culture, 450-650 AD. Boldly carved from Tecali stone as a compact and broad-faced, stylized frog, representing the Earth Monster, Tlatecuhtli, with large eyes, a broad nose, and parted lips, with tightly bent legs undulating down the sides.

Provenance: Martin Doustar, Parcours des Mondes, Paris, 2016. A private collector in Kentucky, USA, acquired from the above.
Published: Martin Doustar, Primitive and Archaic, Parcours des Mondes, Paris, 2016, no. 45. Note that Martin Doustar dates the present lot as 100-400 AD.
Condition: Excellent condition, commensurate with age. Extensive wear, signs of weathering and erosion, structural cracks, losses.

Weight: 16.8 kg
Dimensions: Length 41 cm, Width 34.5 cm

With an associated metal stand. (2)

There is no art form more associated with the Veracruz Gulf coast than the portable ballgame sculptures known as yokes, the name being derived from their faint resemblance to ox yokes. They appeared in south-central Veracruz, as early as 900-300 BC, and continued to be carved until at least 900 AD. The earliest yokes were plain, more ovoid in form, and sometimes closed at the end. The U-shape begins to appear during the preclassical period, ca 300 B.C. Early scholars point to a ritual ballgame played in the Popol Vuh, the sacred creation myth of the Maya, where the entrance to the Underworld is thought to be entered via the ballgame. As in the present lot with its crouching toad effigy, the sacred passageway was believed to be through the jaws of a female toadlike creature. The wearing of the yoke, of course not while playing the fast-paced contest, but rather as regalia after the game, was a prerogative of the elite.

The ballgame, known as Ollamaliztli in Nahuatl, was one of the most widespread rituals of Mesoamerica, said to have originated with the Olmec, and chronicled by the Conquistadors as they encountered the Aztecs who played it for a more recreational purpose. Over the centuries, perhaps as many as 400 ballgame courts were identified within the Gulf Coast and Maya region. The game might possibly have originated in the Veracruz heartland during the preclassical period where latex rubber (which the ball was composed of), was first developed. Numerous preclassical and later Veracruz figurines from the central Mexican Highlands wearing ballgame costumes also point to an origin in this region.

The Veracruz version of the game was played in formal masonry courts, usually of I-shaped form, and located near the most sacred areas of the city. While the rules and number of players varied, points seemingly were made by keeping the dense rubber balls aloft and successfully hitting stone markers set along the ball court walls or end zones. Teams ranged from two to four players. Surviving ballgame paraphernalia includes stone yokes, palmas and hachas. Elite players were elaborately attired in protective clothing including a wood or wicker U-shaped yoke worn high on the chest. Stone versions of these yokes may have been created for funerary or commemorative purposes.

Auction result comparison: Compare a closely related yoke, also dated 450-650 AD, at Christie’s Paris in Quetzalcoatl: Serpent à Plumes, on 9 February 2021, lot 17, sold for EUR 75,000.

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拍品估价:4,000 - 8,000 欧元 起拍价格:4,000 欧元  买家佣金: 29.40% + VAT 服务费:本专场服务费按成交价(含佣金)的1.5%收取,最低200元

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