OLMEC SEATED CHARACTER, LAS BOCAS PRECLASSIC MEDIUM,... Lot 31

OLMEC SEATED CHARACTER, LAS BOCAS PRECLASSIC MEDIUM, APPROX. 1150-550 A.D. Height: 30.2 cm. (11⅞ in.) $76000-97000 PROVENANCE Edward H. Merrin and André Emmerich, Zurich, in the 1970s Denyse Berend Collection, Paris, acquired from them in the 1970s - early 1980s Christie's, New York, November 12, 2004, lot 12 Important European private collection, acquired at this sale OLMEC SEATED FIGURE, LAS BOCAS The hollow kaolin-slipped fgure with elongated fngers resting on ankles, the youthful body carefully modeled with soft belly and broad shoulders, the full-cheeked face with elongated eyes and with pupils indicated, wearing a close-ftting cap incised with a bipartite design of a stylized "fame brow", painted overall in a creamy kaolin slip with decorative details in rich red and dark brown. The Olmec hollow ceramic fgures labeled as 'babies' are characteristic of Early and Middle Preclassic period, ca. 1150-300 B.C. are a special category within Mesoamerican ceramics. They are characterized by fne white clay covered in burnished creamy white slip with infantile features, usually without a noticeable gender and seated with splayed legs. The 'babies' share certain stylistic traits with the monumental sculpture of the Gulf Coast Olmec centers best witnessed at La Venta and San Lorenzo (fg. 1). The most attention in artistic and anatomical detail is relegated to the fgures' heads -some have intimidating facial features and others demonstrate calming physiognomies. Typically their noses are small and attention is given to the pufy, infantile cheeks. The hollow "babies" are signifcant for their three-dimensionality, curvilinear realism and symmetrical idealism traits shared by the fnest Olmec work in basalt and jade. Several hypotheses have been proposed for the purpose and function of this distinct and enigmatic group of ceramics. They have been associated with ancestor lineage rituals a