Published Andesite Statue of a Crouching Porter of the San Agustin Culture

Culture: San Agustin Culture/Colombia

Period: 0 to 900 A.D

Material: Andesite

Dimensions: 47.7 cm high

Price: 28 000 Euro

Ref: 11061

Provenance: Austrian private collection Prof. Josef Mairitsch (1938-1994) with the inventory number M 9. Acquired between 1960 and the early 1980s. Thence in the family estate. With copies of the collection note, inventory list and catalogue page.

Condition: Traces of weathering due to long exposure outdoors, but unrestored and intact.

Description: Large and important andesite stone figure depicting a crouching woman with a bowl on the head. The porter is without clothes, her hanging breasts are squeezed between the angled legs. The arms sideways along the body, the hands hold the lower thighs. The large mask-like face with an overbroad nose and broad mouth distorted by exertion. Her eyes are large and framed on top by thick lids. The square ears protrude sideways. What is striking is the massive braided plait of hair that falls down her back. The statue is freestanding on its flat base. It was placed with a grave connection and embodied a servant figure. San Agustin with the size of 2,000 square kilometers is considered as the largest necropolis in the world. Hundreds of stone statues, some up to over four meters high, were crafted and placed there. See for the depiction of the head with square ears: L. Duque Gomez (text), Francisco Hidalgo (pictures) “San Agustin”, Paris 1982, No. 11. The statue is published in: Josef Mairitsch “Columbus am Wörthersee. Amerika vor Columbus.“ Catalogue for the special exhibition of the cultural department of the state capital Klagenfurt from 1 June to 31 October 1992, p. 86, no. 14.05.