VERACRUZ - Shaman

Standing Shaman Holding a Ceremonial Mirror - Remojadas - VERACRUZ - Mexico - 200 – 500 AD.

Height : 78.3 cm

Width : 32 cm

Depth : 19 cm

Brown-beige hollow clay with tar (chapopote)

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

- Thermoluminescence report

- Invoice

This figure, made of a beige clay of excellent quality, is a very good example of the sculptures produced in Veracruz, in the classical period, by potters as skilled as they were diligent, capable of capturing and rendering human expressions through portraits of great truth. Their talent is undeniably evident in the finesse of this work, its realism, its remarkable size and its perfect state of preservation.

The effigies that these craftsmen have left us, very varied in their identity, their attire and their postures, offer a faithful picture of daily life in Mesoamerica in the first century of our era. Mainly representing members of the elite (priests, warriors, shamans), they display a quantity of ornaments and accessories, modelled by hand and added to the body using the pastillage technique. Generally speaking, the style is naturalistic, the proportions are beautiful and the faces expressive. The gestures are frozen without detracting from the liveliness of these works, which the artist and art historian Miguel Covarubbias describes as "powerful and expressive, with an unprecedented charm and sensitivity".