VERACRUZ - Hacha

Ceremonial hacha of a jaguar with tongue - VERACRUZ - MEXICO - 450 - 750 AD - Pre-Columbian

Height: 20.7 cm

Width: 15.6 cm

Depth : 14.5 cm

Grey volcanic stone, red cinnabar decoration with significant traces of tar

Documents (originals) provided to the acquirer:

- Certificate of authenticity of the Galerie Mermoz,

Santo Micali, Expert, (CNE) Compagnie Nationale des Experts

- Certificate of Art Loss Register

- Passport of free circulation

- Microanalysis report

- Invoice

This singular work is a ceremonial axe shaped like a human head from the Veracruz region, in the centre of the Gulf coast. This type of sculpture was used in ball-playing tournaments, a ritual sport practised throughout Mesoamerica, with considerable political, social and religious implications. They are associated with two other ritual objects known as the yoke and the palm.

According to American archaeologist Tatiana Proskouriakoff, who has studied at length the complex of ceremonial sculptures related to the ball game, the head-shaped axes could be anterior to the flat axes that gave these objects their name (hacha) The name given by the Spaniards, unrelated to their function but derived from their thin and beveled form.