Olmec Kneeling Dwarf

Reportedly American Private Collection, acquired by the mid 1960s
Edward H. Merrin Gallery, New York, acquired from the above
Howard and Saretta Barnet, New York, acquired from the above on August 25, 1978

Princeton University Art Museum, Princeton, The Olmec World: Ritual and Rulership, December 16, 1995-February 25, 1996, and travelling: Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, April 14-June 9, 1996

Peter David Joralemon, "The Olmec Dragon: a Study in Pre-Columbian Iconography",  in Henry B. Nicholson, ed., Origins of Religious Art and Iconography in Preclassic Mesoamerica, Los Angeles, 1976, p. 57, fig. 20 f (publication of papers presented at a symposium held at UCLA, February 25-26, 1973)
Gerald Berjonneau, Emile Deletaille, and Jean-Louis Sonnery, eds., Rediscovered Masterpieces of Mesoamerica, Boulogne, 1985, p. 38, pl. 13
Michael D. Coe, ed., The Olmec World: Ritual and Rulership, Princeton, 1995, p. 220, cat. no. 118, and drawing of the headdress, p. 86, fig. 4b
Karl A. Taube ed., Olmec Art at Dumbarton Oaks, Washington, D.C., 2004, p. 58, Fig. 27

The dwarf is in excellent condition in its current form which as clearly visible shows the missing forearms and the missing lower legs. The carving of the face, head, torso and existing limbs is finely detailed and completely intact. The stone is very dense and heavy and could possibly be hematite rather than serpentine. The figure has a beautiful natural patina.
In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective qualified opinion.
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This rare stone figure is one of the finest carvings of the dwarf type, a well-documented figural form within the Olmec corpus. He has been described as "among the most physically exaggerated and the most densely inscribed with iconography"¹ within this category. The carved emblems of the harpy eagle helmet and maize symbols including the bag on his back, mark the dwarf as a semi-divine carrier of the Olmec’s most sacred crop – maize. Maize was the foundation of Olmec ideology and the basis for the creation of deities associated with water and agriculture.² The dwarf in Olmec art has been interpreted as a form of hierophany – a physical manifestation of the sacred.³ They have long been recognized as having special powers, as messengers and intermediaries between the natural and supernatural world. Taube notes that dwarfs' afflictions were believed to come from rain and lightning, uniting them with powers of fertility.

The Barnet dwarf has pendulous puffy cheeks, a full lower lip and broad nose, with heavy lids that nearly cover the deeply recessed, slanting eyes. The top of the head is flanked by symmetrical profiles of the harpy-eagle, which form a helmet, with the thick beaks curving onto the dwarf's nose, and the bird’s elongated eyes surmounted by the flame-brow motif. The harpy eagle is an important avian deity, first identified by Joralemon,⁴ and recognized as a manifestation of the major deity – the Olmec dragon. Taube refers to this deity as the Avian Serpent and further identified raptorial bird elements.⁵ The squatting posture and upturned head is a classic form of "attendant supplication",⁶ typical of other dwarfs and appropriate for their role as courtly and royal supplicant companions. He carries a large close-fitting sack which drapes onto the buttocks and is secured on his head with the chevron-patterned tumpline running beneath the avian helmet. Three fronds of maize protrude at the top of the bag. The arms and legs are carved with symmetrically opposed maize emblems, one of a sprouted seed (shown as a rounded form with tripartite projections on one end), the other of the bundled maize ear fetish – known to be a sacred object and shown carried by various stone figures.⁷ The spatial placement of these emblems is a feature of Olmec art most formally displayed on the Las Limas stone figure where a pantheon of deities are placed strategically over the body.⁸

One of the most important maize carrying figures is known as the "Jade Burden Bearer".⁹ This fine jade figure carries a long sack supported by a tumpline on the head, with a single cleft sprout of maize at the top. This figure and the Barnet dwarf, while of different characteristics and stone types, dramatically portray how the physical act of bringing maize is a sacred procurement. The Barnet dwarf has a compelling identity of divine power portrayed by the intricate combination of symbolic motifs and humanistic features.

1 Coe, ed., The Olmec World: Ritual and Rulership, Princeton, 1995, p. 221
² Taube discusses the seminal role of maize in Mesoamerican rituals, iconography, ideology and economy, from the Early Preclassic era onward. The Aztec maize goddess Chicomecoatl was described by the sixteenth century chronicler Sahagún: "indeed truly she is our flesh, our livelihood; through her we live; she is our strength." Taube in Clark and Pye, eds., Olmec Art and Archaeology in Mesoamerica, Washington, D.C., 2000, pp. 297-337
³ Ladrón de Guevara in Berrin and Fields, eds., Olmec: Colossal Masterworks of Ancient Mexico, San Francisco and Los Angeles, 2010, p. 25
⁴ Joralemon, A Study of Olmec Iconography, (Studies in Pre-Columbian Art and Archaeology), Vol. 7, Washington, D.C., 1971, pp. 67-70; Joralemon later identified the bird-deity specifically with dwarf figures and maize in Joralemon, "The Olmec Dragon: a Study in Pre-Columbian Iconography", in Nicholson, ed., Origins of Religious Iconography in Preclassic Mesoamerica, Los Angeles, 1976, pp. 27-71
⁵ Taube in Coe, ed., The Olmec World: Ritual and Rulership, Princeton, 1995, p. 86
⁶ Taube, Olmec Art at Dumbarton Oaks, (Pre-Columbian art at Dumbarton Oaks), Vol. 2, Washington, D.C., 2004, p. 57
⁷ The bundled and feathered maize ear fetish is an ancient sacred object for Puebloan groups of the American Southwest. Taube examined the similar features of the Mesoamerican and Puebloan customs, such as the directional symbolism of celts and maize, and the overall concept in the Southwest of maize ears being the "ritual embodiments of supernatural power"; Taube in Clark and Pye, eds., ibid., p. 320
⁸ See Coe, ed., ibid., p. 161, fig. 1
⁹ Ibid., p. 222, cat. no. 119