News-Antique.com - Nov 30,-0001 - DALLAS, TEXAS: The people of the Quimbaya culture, who lived in what is now Colombia between 300 AD and 1550 AD, were and are renowned for their exquisite gold work. Their incredible masterpieces, created using the lost wax method, are still considered today as some of the finest gold sculpture of the early Americas. Even the Spanish conquistadores, who would eventually be responsible for the obliteration of the Quimbaya, admired their goldsmithing skills above all others.
“The statuesque, museum-worthy Quimbaya figure offered in our upcoming auction represents a standing shaman in trance state,” explained Dr. Edmund P. Pillsbury, Managing Director of Fine and Decorative Arts for Dallas-based Heritage Auction Galleries. “It exhibits the prime Quimbaya sculptural quality of monumental grandeur that belies the actual size, although this is still an exceptionally large and heavy pendant figure. The shaman wears a wing-shaped nose ornament that we recognize from the many fine examples that survive.”
“The fine threads which form the broad necklace, the waist band and other bands, and the paired headdress curls were made by wax melted in a section of cane and forced out by a plunger through a small hole into cold water,” Pillsbury said. “The fingers, unusual in their continuation up the arm, were made with wider gauge threads.”
“The progress from wholly developed, highly sculptural three-dimensionality in the head, shoulders, and torso toward the much flatter, conceptualized legs and feet is frequently seen in Quimbaya area figural pieces,” Pillsbury said. “Holes cast at each side of the neck indicate that this figure was intended at times to be suspended. This is, without a doubt, one of the highlights of our upcoming auction of Pre-Columbian and Native American Art from the Gary Hendershott Collection, and will no doubt engender great interest from both scholars and lovers of fine art alike.”
Heritage Auction Galleries will offer the Gary Hendershott Collection of Pre-Columbian and Native American Art in their upcoming Signature auction, to be held September 29, 2006 in New York City at 2 East 79th Street (at 5th Avenue). Previews of the lots will be held in Dallas (September 12 – 15) and in New York (September 26 – 29).
Monumental Standing Figure, Possibly a Shaman
Quimbaya, Urabá Area
A.D. 500 - 1000
Gold, Weight 287.4 grams
Height 6 ½ in. Width 3 7/16 in.
For more information about Heritage’s auctions, and a complete record of prices realized, along with full-color, enlargeable photos of each lot, please visit www.HA.com.
Prospective consignors and sellers of fine and decorative arts are invited to www.HA.com/FineArt and click on the “Sell Now” tab. Or simply email Dr. Pillsbury at EPP@HA.com.
To reserve your copy of any Heritage auction catalog, please contact Nicole Jewell at 1-800-872-6467, ext. 272, or visit www.HeritageAuctions.com to order by email.
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