Pre-Classical Period, 12th-2nd century BC. An anthropomorphic carved jade statuette of a semi-seated nude character with right leg in front, the left knee resting on the ground, head with deformed and elongated skull without hair, with stylised physiognomic features: large eyes, nose and mouth, ears in the shape of a narrow and elongated rectangle with a hole through, hands resting on the lap, at the top of the forehead is a band with engraved decoration. See Instituto Geologico de M?xico, Catalogo Geográfico de las especies minerales de M?xico, Boletin 41, M?xico, 1923; Mirambell, L.E.,Tecnicas Lapidarias Prehispanica, M?xico, 1968; Ward, F., Jade Gem, Boock Publishers, EUA, 1996; Ridinger, M.L., ‘El Jade’ in Arqueologia Mexicana vol. V, No 27 Septiembre-Octubre, pp. 52-59, M?xico, 1997; Mirambell, L.E., Materiales Arqueologicos y material prima’, in Serie Arqueologia INAH, M?xico, 2005; Langenscheidt, A.,‘Los Abrasivos en Mesoam?rica’, Arqueologia Mexicana vol. XIV, No 80 Julio-Agosto, M?xico, 2006, pp.55-60.654 grams, 16cm (6 1/4"). Property of an Italian collector living in Torino; part of her family's collection since 1965; by descent from her grandmother in 1993; accompanied by a copy of the Italian export permit and a signed academic report by Emilio J. Bejarano Erosa (Director of the Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia, Mexico, 1968-1982); also accompanied by a scholarly note TL5346 by Dr Ronald Bonewitz; this lot has been checked against the Interpol Database of stolen works of art and is accompanied by AIAD certificate number no.10277-168424. These small anthropomorphic figures, with faces that present the typical Olmec cranial deformation and feline features such as the lips with the corners down, are representations of the humanization of the god Tiger. They have been found associated with burials and in the Zona Arqueologica de la Venta a burial was found keeping an offering of fifteen anthropomorphic figurines in an upright position and six plates of the same size of jadeite, of different shades.