ABOVE: Mask. Veracruz;
probably Puebla region,
Mexico.
AD 700–1,200.
Terracotta.
To be offered by Sotheby’s, Paris,
on 30 October 2019,
est. 70,000–100,000 euros.
44
SCREENED BELOW: Mask.
Teotihuacan; Valley of
Mexico, Mexico.
AD 450–650.
Alabaster.
To be offered by Sotheby’s, Paris,
on 30 October 2019,
est. 100,000–150,000 euros.
Le Soleil de Nuit
PARIS—With Le soleil de nuit (The Night Sun), Sotheby’s
could not have picked a more evocative title
for its next non-European art sale, which will be
held on October 30, 2019. Under the supervision
of Stacy Goodman, Sotheby’s expert
for Pre-Columbian art and a close friend of
the collector whose eye will be celebrated
with this sale, the Department of African and
Oceanic art that Alexis Maggiar has been leading
for a year now will spare no effort to provide this
exceptional group of objects the
presentation it deserves.
The collection is that of an aesthete
who discovered the art of
Teotihuacan at an early age, and
the seventy-six lots that comprise
the sale evince an astonishing comprehension
of the depth and nuances
that were at the heart of the
rich artistic manifestations of the
ancient Pre-Hispanic civilizations.
The inveterate lover of beauty who
owned these works lived surrounded
not only by them, but by collections
of many other kinds of major
seventeenth- and eighteenth-century
artworks, natural history objects,
and modern art and design
pieces. Just the brief glimpse of a
few of the Mexican masterpieces
on this page is enough to make it
clear that this group of works refl
ects a rare combination of sensitivity
and taste. Among them are
a sublime alabaster Teotihuacan
mask (one of four in the collection),
a sumptuous Chinesco-style fi gure, a Maya
vase depicting a scribe, another Maya sculpture of a
noble, and, fi nally, a striking Veracruz mask, the faces
of which relate to life and death and are a metaphor
for Mesoamerican religious beliefs.
A fi tting public presentation of this ensemble of
major works will take place before the sale. An even
earlier preview of highlights in it will be shown in Paris
in early September concurrent with Parcours des
Mondes, before the pieces are sent off to New York
to be admired—and coveted—all over again.
ART IN MOTION
BELOW: Figure of a noble.
Maya; Mexico.
AD 550–950.
Terracotta.
To be offered by Sotheby’s, Paris,
on 30 October 2019,
est. 40,000–60,000 euros.
RIGHT: Kneeling Chinescostyle
fi gure. Nayarit, West
Mexico. 100 BC–AD 250.
Terracotta.
To be offered by Sotheby’s, Paris,
on 30 October 2019,
est. 45,000–65,000 euros.