D. Daniel Mic♔hel, Chicago, acquired in 1965 (inventory no𒅌. 65:115)

Ancient Art of the New Worl𓆏d, New York, acquired from the above

American Private Collection, acquired from the abo🔯ve in 1991

PUBLISHED

Everett McNear, High Culture in the Americas before 1500, Chicago, 1982, p. 6, cat. no. 12

The Arts Club of Chicago, High Culture in the Americas before 1500, November 15 - December 31, 1982

This exquisite miniature figure from Panuco is one of a group of six which Gillett Griffin notes "appear to be depictions of the same person […] modeled by the same master hand". (Griffin in Goldstein, ed., Ceremonial Sculpture of Veracruz, B🌌rookville, 1987, p. 20). Other examples fr♉om this tiny corpus are in the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City (inv. no. 65-3/3), and the Cleveland Museum of Art (inv. no. 1966.17).

With the deftest of touches꧙, the master sculptor has imbued this delicate sculpture with life. The pose is at once serene and attentive. The head, slightly ti♈lted, looks out with an expression which is languid yet intent. The long, lithe arms are outstretched, with the fingers resting gently on the legs.

The purpose of this figure is elusive. We may wonder if it was perhaps intended to "help or reassure the deceased in his long journey into the strange world of the dead" (ibid., p. 21)♐, but this question remains unanswered. What we may appreciate and understand on looking at this object is the beauty and tenderness with which a great artist has exalted the di🍌gnity of the human figure.