**First Time At Auction**

Pre-Columbian, West Mexico, Jalisco culture, ca. 300 BCE to 300 CE. An evocative pottery hunchback figure depicted nude and lunging forward as he sits with hands on knees. Presenting an elongated visage characteristic of Jalisco culture, the figure gazes forth from generously-lidded, almond-shaped eyes above a narrow, pointed nose, and a smiling mouth with curled lips that part to expose 2 rows of teeth. His ornate headdress is comprised of crisscross ribbed bands with a vertical crest and a canine-headed adornment at the front. Beaded armbands encircle his thick biceps, while the rest of his body is left nude with a projecting phallus and prominent bulging back. In Pre-Columbian times, the characteristics of hunchbacked people were believed to be signs from the divine; that they were in fact special, chosen individuals who were touched by the supernatural. Size: 6.4" W x 10.1" H (16.3 cm x 25.7 cm)

Hunchback and dwarf individuals are very common in Colima sculpture - indeed, they heavily outnumber portrayals of women (and some have theorized that this relates to their relatively high social status in the society). Some scholars attribute the hunched back in West Mexican shaft tomb culture to a particular form of tuberculosis; the protruding shoulders of this example may be part of the figure's deformity or the result of an emaciated state.

This piece was published in Sotheby's New York Galleries "Important Pre-Columbian Art" May 12 and 13, 1983, Sale 5034, no. 228.

Provenance: private Charlotte, North Carolina, USA collection, acquired November 2004; ex-Fernandez Leventhal Gallery, New York City, New York, USA; ex-Sotheby's New York, New York City, New York, USA, May 12-13, 1983, lot 228

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#178429

Professionally repaired with restoration and expected surface wear as shown. Small chips to fingers, proper right foot, and left side of headdress. Areas of fire-darkening to surface. Otherwise, excellent with nice preservation of detail and rich manganese deposits throughout.