Provenance Information

1949, sold by a gallery in Nayarit, Mexico, to Adrian Green, Three Rivers, CA [see note]; 1977, sold by Adrian Green to a private collector, Fresno, CA; May 16, 2013, anonymous sale, Sotheby’s, New York, lot 25, unsold; 2014, sold by a private collector to Fort Knox Antiquities, Scottsdale, AZ; 2014, sold by Knox Antiquities to Artemis Gallery, Erie, CO; 2014, sold by Artemis to Timothy Phillips, Boston; 2015, year-end gift of Timothy Phillips to the MFA. (Accession Date: February 26, 2016)

NOTE: According to a signed and notarized statement by Mr. Green supplied to Sotheby’s, New York (April 15, 2013), he acquired the figures in Nayarit in 1949 and brought them to California in 1950.

Exhibition Information

None known.

Publication Information

None known.

Section of the AAMD Guidelines relied upon for the exception to 1970

Informed judgement that works were outside of the country of modern discovery before 1970

Explain why the object fits the exception set forth above

According to Mr. Green’s statement, the figures were acquired by him in Mexico in 1949 and brought to the U.S. the following year. This is consistent with information on his website, stating that he began collecting Pre-Columbian materials during his trips to Mexico in 1948 and 1949, and continued over the next twenty or so years. There are no inconsistencies in the two accounts, both of which suggest that he acquired this piece before 1970.