*Sculpture anthropomorphe Lot n° 39

representing a standing character. The head and the 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 skull, spherical, is shaved. The open mouth reveals the gums. The eyes are hollowed out like almonds. The nostrils are pierced. The thin and arched eyebrows join 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 collapsed, the knees slightly bent to mark a movement. But the most significant Olmec aesthetic predilection here lies in the representation of the head: oblong in shape and with a spherical skull, it rests on a robust body. Spotted green serpentine Olmec, Mexico, 900-600 B.C. 11.2 x 4.2 x 2.9 cm Provenance: - Former Jean-Louis Sonnery collection - Mermoz Gallery, 1993