Provenance Information

Ex coll. William (1920-2002) and Carol (1921-2019) Thibadeau, Atlanta, Georgia, probably purchased from Genevieve Arnold (1928-2005), Atlanta, Georgia.

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

Gift or bequest expected or on loan prior to 2008

Explain why the object fits the exception set forth above

Gifted to museum in 1990.

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

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 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

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

Acquired by Mr. Harold Thomas (d. 1984), while he was working as an electrical engineer for General Electric in Mexico between 1930-1938; his son and daughter by descent; Throckmorton Fine Art Inc., New York, NY; Robert L. Drapkin and Chitranee Drapkin Collection, St. Petersburg, FL (2004).

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

Acquired in Teotihuacan, Mexico, by Justin and Barbara Kerr in the late 1960s; collection of Justin Kerr, New York, 1960s–2018; gift from Dicey Taylor and Justin Kerr to The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2018

Exhibition Information

On loan to, and on display at, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, since 1993

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

This work was purchased by Justin Kerr in Mexico in the 1960s. The work was offered as a loan from Justin Kerr to the Metropolitan Museum of Art in 1993. It has been on display since that time.

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.

Provenance Information

Frederick Pough, Reno NV; gift of his family to the Gallery in 2011

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

The donor's family provided the following: a letter from the donor to a dealer that describes his overall collection as having been accumulated in the 1930s and the 1960s with some specific descriptions of objects; a 1968 auction inventory list and dated purchase invoice.