*Sculpture anthropomorphe

representing a standing figure. The head and legs are free. The right arm is half bent. The left arm is missing. The head is elongated by a ritual deformation of the skull. The spherical skull is shaved. The open mouth reveals the gums. The eyes are hollowed out like almonds. The nostrils are pierced. The thin, arched eyebrows meet the root of the nose. This sculpture reveals some of the characteristic features of the jaguar man: the paw-like hand with retracted claws, the mouth whose corners are sunken, the knees slightly bent to mark a movement. But the most significant Olmec aesthetic predilection resides here in the representation of the head: of oblong shape and with a spherical skull, it rests on a robust body. Spotted green serpentine. Broken arm Olmec, Mexico, 900 - 600 BC 11.2 x 4.2 x 2.9 cm Lot presented under the temporary importation regime Provenance : - Former Jean-Louis Sonnery collection - Mermoz Gallery, 1993