Catalogue May 2019
Yannick DURAND
12 rue Jacob Cour de Saxe 75006 Paris galerie1492@gmail.com
1 Female seated figure Red-brown terracotta with remains of yellow paint. High : 39,5 cm Width : 29 cm Thickness : 20 cm Chinesco Culture, ca 200 BC-500 AD. Mexico. Al Stendhal collection, Los Angeles, 60’s. Left legs broken otherwise intact.
2 Standing woman holding her breast Volcanic stone High : 46 cm Width : 28,5 cm Atlantic watershed Culture, ca 1000-1500 AD Costa Rica Ex Private French Collection, Paris, 1980’s Vetted and exhited during Tefaf – Maastricht 2016
Below : back view with her beautiful long hair !
3 Plate or bowl with a deer in its center. Polychromic ceramic. High : 7 cm Diameter : 36,5 cm Maya culture, ca 550-950 AD Mexico. Ex-French private collection, collected prior to 1970
4 Trophy-head Basalt High : 21 cm Width : 15 cm Atlantic Watershed Culture, ca 1000-1500 AD. Costa Rica. French Private collection since 1970 Ciram Laboratory test.
6 Panel representing a standing figure (monkey ?), arms raised. Feathers sewn onto cotton. Length : 61 cm Width : 60 cm Ica-Chincha Culture, ca 1000-1476 A.D. Peru. British collection. Collected by the grand-father in the 50’s.
This piece is submitted to specifics conditions
7
Jaguar-effigy metate Volcanic stone High : 29,8 cm Width : 80 cm Thickness : 30 cm Guanacaste-Nicoya area, ca 1000-1200 A.D. Costa Rica Belgian collection, acquired in the Sablon in the 1980's
8 Mortar representing a stylized jaguar. High : 7 cm Width : 12 cm Chorrera-Valdivia Culture, ca 1500-500 BC Ecuador Ex-Belgian collection, 80’s.
9 Tubular pearl with two frogs back to back. Jade. Length : 5 cm Maya culture, ca 750-950 AD. Guatemala Ex-Belgian collection.
Excentrics Flintstone Maya culture, ca 450-750 A.D. Guatemala
11 High : 21 cm
10 High : 15,4 cm
12 High : 16 cm
13
Maskette representing a human face wearing a mask on the nose. Dark green stone. High : 6,5 cm Maya Culture, ca 550-950 AD. Guatemala. French private collection, (A-B), Paris.
14 Bowl decorated with mayan glyphs. Beige-brown ceramic with black painted glyphs. Diameter : 23 cm Maya culture, ca 550-750 AD Mexico. A few chips otherwise intact. Private Swiss Collection, ZĂźrich. Acquired in Switzertland in 1979
15 Ceremonial Stelae representing two shamans transforming into an owl (one by side) Grey stone High : 41 cm Width : 14 cm Thickness : 4 cm Valdivia Culture, ca 1500-500 BC Ecuador Excellent condition Ex-French private collection before 1968, Alain B., Paris.
16 VASE WITH A MONKEY Height : 19,7 cm Width : 16,1 cm Bichrome terracotta. Virù culture, ca 400-900 A.D. Peru. Excellent condition TL Test. Spanish collection, Madrid, since the 80’s
Features White translucid alabaster. High : 15 cm Width : 13,7 cm Thickness : 3,8 cm Culture Teotihuacan ca 150-450 AD Mexico Provenance : Ex-British private collection Formerly in the collection of Harry Geoffrey BEASLEY (1881-1939), Collected in 1924.
This beautiful maks is carved in a white translucid alabaster. Square-shaped, it shows a stylized human flattened face. The four corners are drilled and arrounded : slightly on the forehead and a little bit more in the lower part. The mouth is indicated by an horizonthal line surrounded by thick lips. The mouth-nose area looks like a trapeze. The arch of the eyebrowes is a continuous line. The eyes are like a coffee-bean shape. The ears are stylized. Very good conservation.
The back is flat and the four perforations at the corners are clearly visible. Two labels are glued one on the other. The first one is the largest : it is a white rectangular label with the four corners cut off.
On the top we can read in capital letters « BEASLEY COLLECTION ». It is hand written : « …-12-24 ». The second one is sticked on the other in its center. It round and the letters are deleted, except the letters « G » and « B » : the initials of Harry Geoffrey Beasley and the inscription « 16-12-24 » in the diameter.
The two labels
We may think that it is the date of acquisition : the 16th of December 1924.
A round label from Beasley Collection. Tobacco-pipe, British Museum (n°Am1944,02.173)
Biographical note
They bought in private european and american collections. They also acquired from auction houses and even in local museums. One estimates to more than 6000 pieces purchased or collected, that were exhibited on their Cranmore Museum.
His widow kept a part of their collections. These pieces were sold after her death in 1974 by their doughters.
Harry Geoffrey Beasley was born on the 18th of December, 1881 in Kent in East Plumbed. Very young, he shows interest for ethnography, travels and abroad. He would have purchased his first piece at the age of 13. His fortune allowes him to continue to collect freely. In 1914, he married to his cousin Irene Marguerite Beasley. Together they moved in a house called ÂŤ Cranmore Âť in Kent where they created the Cranmore Ethnological Museum.
He died in 1939. His collection is now displayed between the British Museum, the Royal Museum in Edinburgh, the Cambridge Museum or the PittRivers Museum.
Galerie 1492 present, buy and sell pre-columbian art pieces.
Photos credit : Studio SÊbert, photos : n°6, 8, 9, 16 Vicnent Girier-Dufounier for the others.