Aztec Culture, Central Mexico Post-Classical,... - Lot 78 - Giquello

Lot 78
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Estimation :
150000 - 250000 EUR
Aztec Culture, Central Mexico Post-Classical,... - Lot 78 - Giquello
Aztec Culture, Central Mexico Post-Classical, 1325-1521 AD Grey basalt H. 18.5 cm - W. 35.5 cm Aztec grasshopper, grey basalt, Mexico, H. 7 1/4 in - W. 14 in Provenance: Private American Collection Acquired by the present owner in 1991 Galerie Merrin, New York Jean-Eugène Lions, Geneva Publication: Aveleyra, Luis and Ramon Piña Chan, L'Art Précolombien: Olmèque - Maya - Aztèque, Edita S.A. Lausanne, 1996, p. 317 Aztec sculptors successfully developed zoomorphic motifs, making animal representation one of the most attractive aspects of their production. Practically the entire bestiary has been transposed into stone with great anatomical precision and a much richer and more dynamic repertoire than that of anthropomorphic figuration. This grasshopper made of volcanic stone is a fine example of the dexterity of Mexican artists and the realism of their production. The animal is depicted at rest, its wings folded over its back and its two pairs of front legs glued to its thorax. The third long pair of legs is folded up along the abdomen, whose spirals and cerque can be seen at the back. The head is treated simply but precisely. Protruding eyes and barely outlined mandibles are easily identified. In spite of an economy of means in its realization, the body of this grasshopper is surprisingly dynamic, seeming ready to jump. This beautiful naturalist grasshopper sculpture has no apparent symbolic significance. However, in the Aztec imagination the grasshopper occupies an important place since it is linked to the story of peregrinations. Chapultepec, a Nahuatl term meaning, "on Grasshopper Mountain," refers, in myth, to one of the first settlements of Mexicas in the lake area near Tenochtitlan. The glyph associated with this place is a grasshopper on top of a mountain. NR
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