Lot 43: A rare Mixtec two-part figure of Xipe Totec

People: Mixtec culture, 1200-1521AD
Mexico
H: 37"
Depicting the god Xipe Totec, in two hollow sections joined at the waist, the deity shown wearing flayed human skin, covered in raised nodules, and sewn up the back, wearing ankle bands and sandals with decorative loops, the hands held to front, the head with vacant eyes, large flat ears pierced to represent spools, a flat domed cap, with remains of red, orange, and black pigments, with some areas of restoration. On a custom base. Parsons notes of this piece, "Only a half dozen two-part oversized Xipe sculptures are known...although the pigment is eroded it can be seen that the flayed skin had been entirely orange while the priest's own skin was painted red."

Publication History: Parsons, Carlson, and Joralemon, The Face of Ancient America�; The Indianapolis Museum of Art/Indiana University Press; pg. 192 Ill. 132

Provenance:
Formerly in the collection of and exhibited in the Chrysler Museum, Norfolk, VA; Ex. Wally Zollman Collection, IN

Price Realized: $10,000

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