Diquís Stone Figure

Andre Emmerich, New York

Willam B. Jaffe and Evelyn Annenberg Jaffe Hall, New York, acquired from the above on November 3, 1967

Thence by descent from the above 

Sotheby’s, New York, May 11, 2012, lot 9, consigned by the above

Private Collection, New York, acquired at the above auction

Julie Jones, Precolumbian art in New York: selections from private collections, New York, 1969, p. 44, fig. 197

The Museum of Primitive Art, New York, Precolumbian Art in New York, Selections from Private Collections, September 12 - November 9, 1969

Of imposing and dramatic form, the rigid figure has exaggerated long arms folded on his broad rectangular torso indicative of a submissive posture. With the rounded head sunk deeply into the body, his stylized face evokes a shamanic or supernatural form with the grinning mouth, large rounded eyes and broad nose. The figure is the classic peg-base style of the Diquís region of southern Costa Rica, which is well known for fine stone sculpture including perfectly formed stone spheres, some as large as 2 m in diameter. The peg-base figures may have been associated with such objects, and were likely placed in stone-lined sockets in ceremonial compounds.