Lot 31

Veracruz & Michoacan Pottery Heads with Colima Stone Effigy Pendant

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Lot 31
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Veracruz & Michoacan Pottery Heads with Colima Stone Effigy Pendant
Veracruz & Michoacan Pottery Heads with Colima Stone Effigy Pendant
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Veracruz & Michoacan Pottery Heads with Colima Stone Effigy Pendant

Estimate: $500 - $750

Starting Bid: $250

(0 Bids)
by Artemis Fine Arts
June 25, 2026 9:00 AM MDT (In Progress)
Live Auction
686 S. Taylor Avenue
Suite 108
Louisville, CO, US 80027

Pre-Columbian, West Mexico, Veracruz, Michoacan, and Colima cultures, ca. 300 BCE – 900 CE. A trio of diminutive figural fragments from three of ancient Mexico's most expressive ceramic and lapidary traditions, each surviving as a portable witness to the hands that shaped it. On the left, a Michoacan terracotta head wears a tiered, pleated headdress that rises above almond-cut eyes and pierced nostrils, the modeled features framed by disk-form ear ornaments. On the right, a Veracruz pottery head presents the elaborate coiffure and applied filigree typical of the Gulf Coast modeling tradition, with eyes and mouth defined by sharp incisions and the residue of a once-larger figurine still visible at the broken nape. Between them stands a Colima stone effigy pendant carved in pale, granular stone, the figure rendered frontally with arms folded across the chest, a domed cap or coiffure crowning the head, and a suspension perforation that betrays its original use as personal adornment or amuletic charge. Together, the group encapsulates the breadth of West and Gulf Coast figurative practice across nearly a millennium, from the shaft-tomb sensibilities of Colima to the lively portraiture of Classic Veracruz and the distinctive modeling vernacular of Michoacan. Likely intended for household altars, funerary inclusion, or worn close to the body, these pieces transmit the intimacy of devotion and ornament at human scale. Two heads arrive on custom clear acrylic display mounts. Size of largest (Veracruz head): 2.3" W x 2" H (5.8 cm W x 5.1 cm H); on included custom stand: 6.3" H (16.0 cm H).

Provenance: private Colorado, USA collection; Two mounted heads and petite figure: ex-private Los Angeles, California, USA collection; ex-major gallery, Beverly Hills, California, USA, primarily acquired between 1985 and 2005

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Item # 202454

  • Condition: Good. Colima figure has chip to verso of proper right shoulder. Both heads are fragmentary and have area of loss to upper left corner of each headdress. Otherwise, figure is intact and wearable as a pendant and all have god remaining detail.

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Bid Increments
From: To: Increments:
$0 $299 $25
$300 $999 $50
$1,000 $1,999 $100
$2,000 $4,999 $250
$5,000 $9,999 $500
$10,000 $19,999 $1,000
$20,000 $49,999 $2,500
$50,000 $99,999 $5,000
$100,000 $199,999 $10,000
$200,000 + $20,000