Provenance Information

Ex coll. Laurence (1926-1995) and Cora (1931-2023) Witten, United States, acquired ca. 1960-1985.

Exhibition Information

Human Body: Human Spirit, Michael C. Carlos Museum, September 15, 1993 - January 30, 1994
MCCM Permanent Collection Reinstallation, May 17, 1994 - 2001
MCCM Permanent Collection Reinstallation, September 13, 2002 - June 2012
'For I am the Black Jaguar': Shamanic Visionary Experience in Ancient American Art, Michael C. Carlos Museum, September 5, 2012 - January 5, 2013
MCCM Permanent Collection Reinstallation, February 9, 2013 - Present

Publication Information

Carolyn Elaine Tate and Beatriz de la Fuente, Human Body, Human Spirit: A Portrait of Ancient Mexico (Atlanta: Michael C. Carlos Museum, 1993), 15.
Michael C. Carlos Museum Handbook (Atlanta: Michael C. Carlos Museum, 1996), 93.
Rebecca Stone-Miller, Seeing With New Eyes: Highlights of the Michael C. Carlos Museum Collection of Art of the Ancient Americas (Atlanta: Michael C. Carlos Museum, 2002), 3, figure. 1.
Karen M. O'Day, "A Study of Painted Pottery from Sitio Conte Cemetery, Panama," PhD. diss., Emory University, 2002, figure 5.27.
Rebecca Stone-Miller, "Human-Animal Imagery, Shamanic Visions, and Ancient American Aesthetics," RES (Spring 2004): 52, figure 5.
Augustin Segui, "Piernas flexionadas como jaguar," in XXXI Congresso Internacional de Americanistica: Imaginario e memoria: da representacao, ed. Edmundo Antonio Peggion et al. (Perugia:Universita degli Studi di Perugia, 2009), 233-41.
Michael C. Carlos Museum: Highlights of the Collections (Atlanta: Michael C. Carlos Museum, 2011), 86.
Rebecca Stone, The Jaguar Within: Shamanic Trance in Ancient Central and South American Art (Austin: University of Texas Press, 2011), 63-64, figures 3.1 - 3.3.

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

Gift or bequest expected or on loan prior to 2008

Explain why the object fits the exception set forth above

Gifted to museum in 1992.

Provenance Information

Oppenheimer Family, San Antonio, Texas, before 1998 (note 1); John and Kathi Oppenheimer by gift to San Antonio Museum of Art, 2023.
Note 1: This object appears in a photograph of the Oppenheimer collection dated to 1998. It was likely acquired well before the photograph was made, as many objects in the Oppenheimer collection were acquired before 1980.

Exhibition Information

N/A

Publication Information

N/A

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

Gift or bequest expected or on loan prior to 2008

Explain why the object fits the exception set forth above

San Antonio Museum of Art staff began working with and exhibiting objects from the Oppenheimer collection on loan by 1998, a relationship that culminated in the donation of the collection to the museum in 2023. Documents presented to the museum prior to the donation indicate that Herbert Oppenheimer (1911-1989) was active in Mesoamerican art collecting by 1960; documentation also shows that his son, John Oppenheimer, was actively collecting by 1968.

Provenance Information

Oppenheimer Family, San Antonio, Texas, before 1998 (note 1); on loan by John and Kathi Oppenheimer to San Antonio Museum of Art; 1998-2013; John and Kathi Oppenheimer by gift to San Antonio Museum of Art, 2023.
Note 1: This object appears in a photograph of the Oppenheimer collection dated to 1998. It was likely acquired well before the photograph was made, as many objects in the Oppenheimer collection were acquired before 1980.

Exhibition Information

On loan by John and Kathi Oppenheimer to San Antonio Museum of Art; 1998-2013.

Publication Information

Line drawing by Persis Clarkson published by Foundation for Latin American Anthropological Research, FLAAR Photo Archive, 1976.
Michael McBride, "X-Ray Toads and 'The Enema Pot': A Maya Vase in the San Antonio Museum of Art," Human Mosaic 33 (2003): 15-23.
Bryan R. Just, Dancing Into Dreams: Maya Vase Painting of the Ik' Kingdom (Princeton: Princeton University Art Museum; New Haven: Yale University Press, 2012), 185-189, figs. 132, 133, 134.
Alexandre Tokovinine and Mark Zender, "Lords of Windy Water: The Royal Court of Motul de San José in Classic Maya Inscriptions," in Motul de San José: Politics, History, and Economy in a Maya Polity, ed. Antonia E. Foias and Kitty F. Emery (Gainesville: University Press of Florida), 2012. pp. 39, 61.
Dorie Reents-Budet, Stanley Guenter, Ronald L. Bishop, and M. James Blackman, "Identity and Interaction: Ceramic Styles and Social History of the Ik' Polity, Guatemala," in Motul de San José: Politics, History, and Economy in a Maya Polity, ed. Antonia E. Foias and Kitty F. Emery (Gainesville: University Press of Florida), 2012. pp. 70, 78, 85, 91.
Christina T. Halperin and Antonia E. Foias, "Motul de San José Palace Pottery Production: Reconstructions from Wasters and Debris," in Motul de San José: in Motul de San José: Politics, History, and Economy in a Maya Polity, ed. Antonia E. Foias and Kitty F. Emery (Gainesville: University Press of Florida), 2012. p. 181.
Erik Velásquez García, « Algunas reflexiones sobre la representación del tiempo en la imaginería maya antigua », Journal de la Société des américanistes [En ligne], Maya times | 2017, mis en ligne le 31 décembre 2017, consulté le 22 janvier 2024.
Matthew Looper, "A Vase for K'inich Lamaw Ek' of Motul de San José in the de Young Museum," Glyph Dwellers Report 90 (May 2024): fig. 3.
Charles Cheek, "Hats and Titles: Maya courtier dress and hierarchy in the late Classic Maya court," Ancient Mesoamerica (2024): 1 -23. Table 6.

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

Gift or bequest expected or on loan prior to 2008

Explain why the object fits the exception set forth above

This work was exhibited as a loan to the San Antonio Museum of Art prior to its donation to the permanent collection. SAMA staff first began working with and exhibiting objects from the Oppenheimer collection by 1998, a relationship that culminated in the donation of the collection to the museum in 2023. Documents presented to the museum prior to the donation indicate that Herbert Oppenheimer (1911-1989) was active in Mesoamerican art collecting by 1960; documentation also shows that his son, John Oppenheimer, was actively collecting by 1968.

Provenance Information

Oppenheimer Family, San Antonio, Texas, before 1980 (Note 1); John and Kathi Oppenheimer by gift to San Antonio Museum of Art, 2023.
Note 1: This object appears in a photograph of the Oppenheimer collection printed in November 1980 (date appears on the reverse of the photograph).

Exhibition Information

N/A

Publication Information

N/A

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

Gift or bequest expected or on loan prior to 2008

Explain why the object fits the exception set forth above

San Antonio Museum of Art staff began working with and exhibiting objects from the Oppenheimer collection on loan by 1998, a relationship that culminated in the donation of the collection to the museum in 2023. Documents presented to the museum prior to the donation indicate that Herbert Oppenheimer (1911-1989) was active in Mesoamerican art collecting by 1960; documentation also shows that his son, John Oppenheimer, was actively collecting by 1968. This artwork appears in a photograph of the Oppenheimer collection dated to 1980, the earliest photographs of the collection in the museum’s possession.

Provenance Information

Sale, Sotheby’s, New York, May 26, 1978, lot 49. Purchased in New York, by Peter David Joralemon, New York, by 2008 (inv. no. PCV193); given to the Yale University Art Gallery, New Haven, Conn., 2008

Exhibition Information

N/A

Publication Information

"Acquisitions 2009," Yale University Art Gallery Bulletin (2009): 144.

Elizabeth Kennedy Easby and John F. Scott, Before Cortés, Sculpture of Middle America: A Centennial Exhibition at the Metropolitan Museum of Art from September 30, 1970 through January 3, 1971, exh. cat. (New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1970), 279, fig. 254.

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

N/D

Explain why the object fits the exception set forth above

N/A

Provenance Information

Ex coll. Nicholas Pisaris, Venezuela and United States, collected ca. 1968-1975.

Exhibition Information

To our knowledge, this object has never been exhibited.

Publication Information

To our knowledge, this object has never been published.

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

Cumulative facts and circumstances

Explain why the object fits the exception set forth above

Donor was living and working in Venezuela in the 1960s and 1970s. We have receipts and documentation that support he was collecting in good faith, but we are unable to match the documents to specific objects.

Provenance Information

Ex coll. Nicholas Pisaris, Venezuela and United States, collected ca. 1968-1975.

Exhibition Information

To our knowledge, this object has never been exhibited.

Publication Information

To our knowledge, this object has never been published.

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

Cumulative facts and circumstances

Explain why the object fits the exception set forth above

Donor was living and working in Venezuela in the 1960s and 1970s. We have receipts and documentation that support he was collecting in good faith, but we are unable to match the documents to specific objects.

Provenance Information

Purchased by Major Elmer McBryde c. 1947 from another army officer, by decent to daughter, Diana McBride-Farley; Throckmorton Fine Art Inc., New York, NY; Robert L. Drapkin and Chitranee Drapkin Collection, St. Petersburg, FL (2003).

Exhibition Information

On view at the Museum of Fine Arts, St. Petersburg since October 2020.

Publication Information

None.

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

Gift or bequest expected or on loan prior to 2008

Explain why the object fits the exception set forth above

Promised gift prior to 2008.

Provenance Information

From personal communication: Mr. Larry Kent bought the piece in the 80s from Lore R. Grove. Ms. Grove acquired the piece in Antigua, Guatemala circa 1970s. No additional provenance information is reportedly available from Mr. Kent.

Exhibition Information

N/A

Publication Information

N/A

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

N/D

Explain why the object fits the exception set forth above

According to LACMA and AAMD guidelines, if the provenance of a proposed acquisition does not clearly indicate that the antiquity in question was outside its country of origin prior to 1970, the museum may determine to proceed with the acquisition based on an analysis of the benefits and risks, and in accordance with AAMD’s guidelines for the publication of the object and the provenance information known about it, with an explanation of the basis for the museum’s decision. Generally, LACMA believes that, absent evidence of looting or illegal export of any antiquities, but given incomplete provenance establishing that the objects were outside their source countries prior to 1970 and prior to any applicable foreign patrimony laws, it is in LACMA’s and the public interest to accept such objects for the purpose of bringing them into the public domain, caring for them and publishing them, both for scholarly purposes and for the purpose of providing notice to any party, including source countries, that may have a claim or information relating to the provenance of the objects.

Provenance Information

Eduardo Paredes, Guatemala City, before July 1973; Edward H. Merrin Gallery, New York, until 1974; Mr. and Mrs. Samuel H. Lindenbaum, New York, partial gift, 1974–2015

Exhibition Information

Teotihuacan, Art from the City of the Gods [M.H. de Young Memorial Museum, San Francisco, 26 May – 31 October 1993], Cat. No. 66, pp. 214-215.

Publication Information

Hellmuth, Nicholas M. 1975. The Escuintla Hoards: Teotihuacan Art in Guatemala. F.L.A.A.R. Progress Reports vol. 1 no. 2, Plate 42A-B, p. 58. Photographs by Edwin Shook; Architectural Digest June 1981 (cover); Berjonneau, Gerald et al. Rediscovered Masterpieces of Mesoamerica. 1985. New York, Editions Arts. Photographs by Justin Kerr. Cat. No. 153, p. 118; Berrin, Kathleen, and Esther Pasztory, editors. 1993. Teotihuacan: Art from the City of the Gods. New York, Thames and Hudson. Cat. No. 66, pp. 214-215, 1994.

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

Cumulative facts and circumstances

Explain why the object fits the exception set forth above

This object was first photographed in 1973, first published in 1975 and featured in four subsequent publications, and was exhibited in 1993. This figurine comes from the Pacific Coast region of Guatemala, from which the Museum only has one other object. This style of “hollow” or “host” figurines found in Guatemala is indicative of the long-distance influence of the great Mexican city of Teotihuacan, the largest in the Precolumbian Americas. This successful and long-lasting center of merchants, artists, and others later became a site of pilgrimage for the Aztecs. These rare “host figures” were collected by artists such as Diego Rivera, and are considered among the most evocative images in Teotihuacan art. The proposed example is one of the largest and finest known.