Veracruz Standing Figure

Marcia S. Weisman, California, active as a collector from the 1950s - 1970s

Thence by descent

Sotheby's, New York, November 21, 2022, lot 33

Boasting their signature, strained smiles, the Veracruz sonriente figures seem to be performing in lively song and dance, deftly defying their terracotta stillness. Mirthful and musical, the true function of the sunny sonrientes continues to elude scholars. While some have drawn associations between the figures and Xochipilli, the Aztec god of dance, music, and joy, others suggest that they “represent sacrificial victims [whose smiles are a] result of drug-induced euphoria intended to dispel the bad omen of sadness" (Doris Heyden in Marilyn M. Goldstein, Ceremonial Sculpture of Ancient Veracruz, Greenvale, New York, 1987, p. 63).

Wearing only a constricting chest band, this figure is also adorned with a beaded necklace, gourd anklets, and pointed earrings. He holds a rattle in his left hand.