COLIMA EFFIGY VESSEL OF AN ANTLER, COMALA STYLE PROTOCLASSIC, CIRCA 100 BC-AD 250 |

D. Dan Michel, Chicago, acquired in 1968 (inv. no. 68:149)
Ancient Art of the New World, New York, acquired from the above
American Private Collection, acquired from the above 

The Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, Ancient West Mexico, Art and Archaeology of the Unknown Past, September 5 - November 22, 1998, and travelling: Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles, December 20, 1998 - March 29, 1999

Richard F. Townsend, ed. Ancient West Mexico: Art and Archaeology of the Unknown Past, New York, 1998, pg. 187, fig. 27, cat. no. 31

Excellent condition overall. Tiny portion of the earlobe missing (an easy fill if one wanted to replace a small part of the earlobe) otherwise, intact, excellent burnish and surface details. Small sections of original encrustations remain. Has custom stand.
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.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING CONDITION OF A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD "AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF SALE PRINTED IN THE CATALOGUE.

The Comala style of the Colima region encompasses the greatest variety of figural types and iconographic themes within the ancient West Mexican ceramic tradition. As Peter Furst notes, “the spiritual or magical is now acknowledged as a significant component of the ancient mortuary ceramics of Colima, Jalisco and Nayarit.” (Furst in Townsend, ed., Ancient West Mexico: Art and Archaeology of the Unknown Past, New York, 1998, p. 169).

This perfectly unified composition can be seen as an antler- bodied human figure, or as a personified antler. The refined head with striated coiffure has a trance-like expression and forms the spout for the curving three-pronged antler, covered by the gleaming burnish of the deep reddish brown slip. It has a short support at the back. It was featured in the important 1998 exhibition of West Mexican art in which Furst describes this sculpture as an illustration of the ancient belief that even inanimate objects have a spirit force, a vital essence (the tonalli to the Aztecs, the inua to the Inuit). (Ibid., p. 186).

Deer were a major faunal resource, but their primary role in mythology existed throughout ancient Mesoamerica with their significance continuing into ethnographic customs and even modern art. For the Maya, deer were the object of ritual hunts, a deer carries the Maya goddess on his back on painted pottery, the Huichol culture hero Kauyumarie communicates with supernatural beings as Divine Deer (Holsbeke and Arnaut eds., Offerings for a New Life: Funerary Images from Pre-Columbian West-Mexico, Antwerp, 1998, p. 100), a deer skin wrapped the sacred bundles of Maya, repeated in the Quiche dance rituals for invoking their patron deity Tohil (Fields and Reents-Budet, Lords of Creation: The Origins of Sacred Maya Kingship, London, 2005, p. 93). The modern artist Frida Kahlo dramatically depicted herself in The Little Deer, (La venadita), 1946, where she retains a formidable strength in her facial expression while her deer body is pieced by arrows.