A Superb Veracruz Palma...

Description

A Superb Veracruz Palma
Gulf Coast, Mexico, c. 600 - 900 AD

This extraordinary palma, carved in dense volcanic stone, takes the form of an inverted monkey climbing downward, its head turned outward while the body extends above. The front legs bent to encircle the head, paws resting protectively at the sides of the face at the base. The tail curls at the top, completing the composition, while the flexed hind legs are asymmetrically arranged lending the work a dynamic tension unusual in the corpus. The ribs are carefully indicated along the torso, underscoring the sinewy character of the figure. In very good condition, minor chips off edges of base.

Palmas are distinctive to the Classic Veracruz ballgame tradition, where they functioned as symbolic attachments to ballgame yokes. While too heavy and unwieldy to have been worn in actual play, stone palmas and yokes are now widely understood as ritual or commemorative versions of lighter originals in wood, leather, or fiber. Archaeological finds confirm that they were often deposited in burials as trophies or marks of honor, underscoring their role as emblems of status and of participation in the cosmic drama of the ballgame. The choice of a monkey is significant: monkeys appear throughout Mesoamerican art as ambivalent beings, associated with fertility, excess, play, and divine punishment. In the context of Veracruz ritual, a palma of this type may have embodied the playful yet dangerous energies of the ballgame, where life, death, and cosmic order were at stake.

The sculptor's inventive treatment - the inversion of the body, the forward gaze of the head, and the curling tail crowning the form - transforms the palma into a vertical tableau. This unusual conception integrates the palma's ritual role with a complex iconography that speaks to the Veracruz fascination with transformation, liminality, and the power of performance.

Height: 15 ¾ inches



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