Paris /
Selling “Quetzalcoatl, feathered snake”, a set of 40 pre-Hispanic pieces coming from European private hands, raised a total of 3 million dollars (60 million pesos), this despite protests in Mexico to stop the auction. This is “the largest amount for a pre-Columbian Christie’s art auction in Paris,” according to the house.
The figure of Cihuateotl, 87 cm and dated 600-1000 AD. C, was sold below the estimated price (between 710 thousand and one million dollars). The goddess is depicted seated, with traces of intense white and red pigment.
A mask attributed to the Teotihuacan culture dating from 450-650 AD. it was also put up for auction. C. for $ 526,800. It was part of the personal collection of Pierre Matisse, the son of the famous painter Henri Matisse, who bought it in 1938 and kept it for more than 50 years, according to the catalog. It was estimated between 420 thousand and 640 thousand dollars.
Mexico had asked to stop selling the pieces, assuring that among them were three “fake” objects, including this mask.
The other two allegedly fake pieces are a mask and a carved frog, corresponding to two crafts from Xochilapa, in Guerrero (south), which were awarded respectively for 72 thousand and 48 thousand dollars).
INAH filed a complaint to stop the auction and recover the parts
The National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH) in Mexico indicated on February 3 that it filed a complaint with the Mexican prosecutor’s office to take legal action against the sale of these objects, at the same time as requesting diplomatic actions for the Ministry to recover them.
For her part, Christie assured that the objects were “legitimately sold in a transparent public sale procedure and in accordance with the law”, adding that in “no case” would she propose a work of art “if there were any doubts as to how much for its authenticity and provenance “.
In denouncing the sale, the director of INAH, Diego Prieto, declared that the archeological goods of Mexico “are the property of the nation, inalienable, imprescriptible and unattached and, therefore, are outside any act of trade”.
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