A Rare Anthropomorphic Effigy Wearing a Headdress of Quetzal...

Estimate

£10,000 - £20,000

A Rare Anthropomorphic Effigy Wearing a Headdress of Quetzal Feathers, Kneeling on one Knee with Necklace and Oblong Earspools

Early Teotihuacano Culture, 0-200 AD

Central Mexico

Grey-green diorite with brown patina

Property of a Lady

Provenance:

• Given as a gift to M. Julien Dalbin, Paris, France during his travels in Mexico in the 1940's;


• By descent, M. Pierre Dalton, Paris, France;


• By descent.

Dimensions:
11.8 in (H) x 5.9 in (W) x 5.1 in (D)

Lot Essay: 
We are grateful to Professor Michael Coe, Yale University, and Dr José Contel, Toulouse University, for their help with the attribution and origins of the effigy.

The beginnings of Teotihuacan are still very much unknown and are still shrouded in mystery. What we do know is that in the Late Formative era a number of urban centres arose in central Mexico. The most prominent of these appears to have been Cuicuilco on the southern shore of Lake Texcoco. Scholars have speculated that the eruption of the Xitle volcano may have prompted a mass emigration out of the central valley and into the Teotihuacan valley. These settlers may have founded or accelerated the growth of Teotihuacan. Other scholars have put forth the Totonac people as the founders of Teotihuacan. There is evidence that at least some of the people living in Teotihuacan immigrated from those areas influenced by the Teotihuacano civilization, including the Zapotec, Mixtec, and Maya peoples. The earliest buildings at Teotihuacan date to about 200 BC. The largest pyramid, the Pyramid of the Sun, was completed by AD 100.

The wide, flat headdress of this figure identifies it as having been made by early cultures of the Teotihuacano cultural region, before the Classic period city of Teotihuacan was fully established. In this rare piece we find influences and other comparable features in later Teotihuacano figurines such as facial features, necklaces, and headdresses. 

The feathered headdress of Mesoamerican cultures was made from quetzal feathers. The resplendent quetzal was considered divine, associated with the "snake god", Quetzalcoatl, by Pre-Columbian Mesoamerican civilisations. Its iridescent green tail-feathers, symbols for spring plant growth, were venerated by the ancient Aztecs and Maya who viewed the quetzal as the "god of the air" and as a symbol of goodness and light. The Maya also viewed the quetzal as symbolising freedom and wealth; this was due to their understanding that quetzals died in captivity, as well as the value which the Maya assigned to their feathers.

Mesoamerican rulers and some nobility of other ranks wore headdresses made from quetzal feathers, symbolically connecting them to Quetzalcoatl. Since it was a crime to kill a quetzal, the bird was simply captured; its long tail feathers were plucked and it was set free. In several Mesoamerican languages, the term for quetzal can also mean precious, sacred, or erected.