Provenance Information

private collection, California, c. 1965; Robert and Marianne Huber, Chicago (purchased from above owner according to written statement), c. 1965-1969; D. Daniel Michel, Chicago (69:156), 1969-1991; Art of the Ancient New World, New York, 1991; private U.S. collection, 1991-2016; acquired by the Princeton University Art Museum, 2016

Exhibition Information

None

Publication Information

Henderson, Lucia
2008 “Blood, Water, Vomit, and Wine: Pulque in Maya and Aztec Belief,” Mesoamerican Voices 3:53-76. Illus., Fig. 21b (p. 68; line drawing of a detail).

Photographed by Justin Kerr (K9294) and published online at mayavase.com sometime on or after 2006.

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

Based on the results of provenance research, the Princeton University Art Museum can make an informed judgment that the object was outside its probable country of modern discovery before 1970. D. Daniel Michel gave each item in his collection a catalogue number, the first two digits of which indicate the year he acquired the work, in this case (19)69. The validity of this cataloguing system is supported by exhibition loans and publications documenting both Michel’s ownership of various items in the appropriate period as well as at least one item published in another collection prior to the date of Michel’s acquisition. Additionally, Robert and Marianne Huber, Chicago, provided a statement that they sold the work to Michel in 1969 after acquiring it from a California collector “in about 1965.”

Provenance Information

D. Daniel Michel, Chicago (#66:128), 1966-1991; Ancient Art of the New World, New York, 1991; private U.S. collection, 1991-2016; acquired by the Princeton University Art Museum, 2016

Exhibition Information

None

Publication Information

None

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

Based on the results of provenance research, the Princeton University Art Museum can make an informed judgment that the object was outside its probable country of modern discovery before 1970. D. Daniel Michel gave each item in his collection a catalogue number, the first two digits of which indicate the year he acquired the work, in this case (19)66. The validity of this cataloguing system is supported by exhibition loans and publications documenting both Michel’s ownership of various items in the appropriate period as well as at least one item published in another collection prior to the date of Michel’s acquisition.

Provenance Information

Collected by Supreme Court Magistrate Maximo Acosta Soto, Costa Rica, prior to 1958; Collection of Haig Kurdian, Wichita, KS, 1959-2016, acquired from above, following registration with the National Museum, San José, and the procurement of the appropriate export license (now lost; another license for the non-jade component of the Soto collection is in Kurdian’s possession)

Exhibition Information

January 1969-March 1969, Fine Arts Gallery of San Diego – Kurdian Collection of Pre-Columbian Jades

Publication Information

Keitzmann, Armin. 9 February 1969. “Pre-Columbian Jade Items on Exhibit.” Exhibition review San Diego Union. Five of the objects illustrated.

Sotheby’s. 2014. African, Oceanic and Pre-Columbian Art Including Property from the Krugier and Lasansky Collections (sale N09146, 16 May 2014). Ten items of the proposed group illustrated

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

Based on the results of provenance research, the Princeton University Art Museum can make an informed judgment that these objects were outside their probable country of modern discovery before 1970. It has been difficult to prove with explicit documentation that each individual item of this large collection was part of the Acosta Soto collection and exported from Costa Rica under the 1959 license, or that they were included in the 1969 San Diego exhibition. However, we consider this highly likely given the consistency in the listed scale and scope of the collection. Research has involved consultation with the Costa Rican Minister of Culture, archivists at the San Diego Museum of Art (formally the Fine Arts Gallery of San Diego), and Mr. Kurdian’s related papers, letters, etc.

Provenance Information

said to be found by Dario Ramirez, prior to 19 May 1970; owned by André Emmerich, held by Alan Lapiner (ST-0-65), New York, Nov-Dec 1970; Richard Grey Gallery, Chicago, May 1971-?; Ron Messick, Santa Fe, 1990s; private collection, Chicago, purchased from Ron Messick (as per owner), 1990s-2016; acquired by the Princeton University Art Museum, 2016

Exhibition Information

November 1970 Textile Museum, Washington, D.C. (lent but may not have been displayed for public); March 30, 1971–May 8, 1971 Richard Grey Gallery, Chicago

Publication Information

Richard Grey Gallery. 1971. Pre-Columbian Art: Mexico, Meso-America [exhib. cat.]. Richard Grey Gallery, Chicago. Illus., cat. no. 147.
Cordy-Collins, Alana. 1976. An Iconographic Study of Chavín Textiles from the South Coast of Peru: The Discovery of a Pre-Columbian Catechism. Unpublished Ph.D. dissertation, University of California, Los Angeles. Illus., p. 67, fig. 46a (line drawing).
Lapiner, Alan. 1976. Pre-Columbian Art of South America. Harry N. Abrams, Inc., New York. Illus., p. 439.
Cordy-Collins, Alana. 1979. “Cotton and the Staff God: Analysis of an Ancient Chavin Textile.” In The Junius B. Bird Pre-Columbian Textile Conference, May 19th and 20th, 1973. Ann Pollard Rowe, Elizabeth P. Benson, Anne-Louise Schaffer, eds., pp. 51-60. Washington, D.C.: The Textile Museum and Dumbarton Oaks. Illus., fig. 15.

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

Based on the results of provenance research, the Princeton University Art Museum can make an informed judgment that the object was outside its probable country of modern discovery before November 1970. Letter to Junius Bird from Alan C. Lapiner dated 19 May 1970 (AMNH archives) indicates that the Karwa textiles were in Peru but in the process of being transported to the United States. Further, it is likely that this particular textile was part of a group of approximately 120 textiles on loan to the Textile Museum in Washington, D.C. by 1970. In a 1972 publication, Alan Sawyer, then director of the Textile Museum, wrote that these objects were on loan for study and were viewed by a group of scholars on November 1, 1970.

Mary Frame, a former Sawyer student, has most of Sawyer’s slide collection and has shared scans of all related materials. Although this particular object is not among the small number of remaining slides, a number of the Karwa textile slides are appropriately date-stamped May-September 1970 with notes indicating they were with Lapiner at the time. André Emmerich’s papers (Sotheby’s, New York) include mention of this object (ST-0-67 in his registry) and include a date stamped slide of the object labeled “November 1970.” Therefore, it is likely that this particular textile was part of the group of Karwa textiles that was in the United States prior to November 1, 1970.

Provenance Information

Alfred Bush, 1958; given to the Princeton University Art Museum, 2016

Exhibition Information

None

Publication Information

None

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

Based on the results of provenance research, the Princeton University Art Museum can make an informed judgment that the object was outside its probable country of modern discovery before 1970. Alfred Bush acquired this object while participating in an archaeological expedition sponsored by the University Archaeological Society of Brigham Young University in 1958 at the site of Aguacatal, Campeche, Mexico. The museum has a photograph of Bush at the dig as well as copies of correspondence Bush composed from the field that were sent to project benefactors, demonstrating that he was indeed in this area in 1958.