Pre-Classical Period, 12th-2nd century BC. A nude male figure, kneeling in ritualistic reverence; holding an offering bowl and wearing bracelets on his forearms. See Instituto Geologico de M?xico, Catalogo Geográfico de las especies minerales de M?xico, Boletin 41, M?xico,1923; Westheim, P., The sculpture of Ancient Mexico, New York, 1963; Westheim, P., El Arte antiguo de Mexico, Mexico, 1970; Gribay Kintana A.M., Teogonía e Historia de los Mexicanos, Sepan Cuantos, Mexico, 1965; Palacios, M. L., La cultura Olmeca, Istituto Indigenista Interamericano, Mexico,1965; Mirambell, L.E.,Tecnicas Lapidarias Prehispanica, M?xico, 1968; Wise, T., The Conquistadores, London, 1980; 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; Guilhem, O., ‘Los Animales en el mundo prehispanico’ in Arqueologia Mexicana vol.VI n.35, Enero-Febrero, pp.4-15, Mexico,1999; Mirambell, L.E., ‘Materiales Arqueologicos y material prima’, in Serie Arqueologia INAH, M?xico, 2005; Langenscheidt, A.,‘Los Abrasivos en Mesoam?rica’, in Arqueologia Mexicana vol. XIV, No 80 Julio-Agosto, M?xico, 2006, pp.55-60.1.2 kg, 19cm (7 1/2"). 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 TL5344 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.10281-168429. The somatic and stylistic features of this figure are Olmec: flat nostrils, thick lips with downward angles, narrow skull on the frontal region, widened and stretched upwards, suggesting an intentional cranial deformation of the erect tabular type. The figure represents an offering made for an important person, with the intention of accompanying her on her journey in the underworld after death. It was the kind of offering common among high-ranking burials. The technique of intentionally enlarging the skulls of children to consolidate an oval shape in a mature age, was a typical custom of the Meso-American social elite.