Standing Male Figure
- Culture
- Classic Veracruz
- Period
- Late Classic period, 600–909
- Date
- c.600–750
- Material
- Ceramic
- Classification
- Ceramics, sculpture
- Collection
- Arts of Africa, Oceania, and the Americas
- Current Location
- On View, Gallery 114
- Dimensions
- 16 3/4 x 11 x 4 in. (42.5 x 27.9 x 10.2 cm)
- Credit Line
- Gift of Morton D. May
- Rights
- Public Domain
- Object Number
- 212:1978
NOTES
With its grinning face and open stance, this appealing character is but one of hundreds of sonrientes, or smiling figures. Their clothing, headdresses, and jewelry indicate an elite status. Largely mold-made, the meaning of the smiling figures continues to escape precise identification. Some scholars suggest the expression comes from drugs and hallucinogens used to make sacrificial victims more compliant prior to their violent deaths. Others identify these figures as dwarf-like beings known as chaneques, who were thought to occupy a liminal space between this world and the world beyond.
Provenance
Everett Rassiga Inc., New York, NY, USA
- 1967
D'Arcy Galleries, New York, NY, purchased from Everett Rassiga Inc. [1]
1967 - 1978
Morton D. May (1914-1983), St. Louis, MO, purchased from D'Arcy Galleries [2]
1978 -
Saint Louis Art Museum, given by Morton D. May [3]
Notes:
[1] A note on the accession records states this object was "originally owned by [Everett] Rassiga who sold it to D'Arcy Galleries" [SLAM document files].
[2] An invoice dated May 5, 1967 from D'Arcy Galleries to Morton D. May documents this purchase, listed as ""Smiling face" figure, clay. / Mexico, Veracruz, Totonac / 16 ½" high - has stand" [May Archives, Saint Louis Art Museum].
[3] A letter dated September 29, 1978 from Morton D. May to James N. Wood, director of the Saint Louis Art Museum, includes the offer of this object as part of a larger donation [SLAM document files]. Minutes of the Acquisitions Committee of the Board of Trustees, Saint Louis Art Museum, December 13, 1978.
- 1967
D'Arcy Galleries, New York, NY, purchased from Everett Rassiga Inc. [1]
1967 - 1978
Morton D. May (1914-1983), St. Louis, MO, purchased from D'Arcy Galleries [2]
1978 -
Saint Louis Art Museum, given by Morton D. May [3]
Notes:
[1] A note on the accession records states this object was "originally owned by [Everett] Rassiga who sold it to D'Arcy Galleries" [SLAM document files].
[2] An invoice dated May 5, 1967 from D'Arcy Galleries to Morton D. May documents this purchase, listed as ""Smiling face" figure, clay. / Mexico, Veracruz, Totonac / 16 ½" high - has stand" [May Archives, Saint Louis Art Museum].
[3] A letter dated September 29, 1978 from Morton D. May to James N. Wood, director of the Saint Louis Art Museum, includes the offer of this object as part of a larger donation [SLAM document files]. Minutes of the Acquisitions Committee of the Board of Trustees, Saint Louis Art Museum, December 13, 1978.
We regularly update records, which may be incomplete. If you have additional information, please contact us at provenance@slam.org.