Two Anthropomorphic Zoo Statuette Heads - Pre-columbian Art Tribal Art

Nice pair of anthropomorphic zoo heads.
These are stylized representations of hybrid beings, very common in the "pre-Columbian" ¹ or pre-Hispanic culture of South and Central America.

a). One is in red granular terracotta
b). The other in smooth terracotta with a gray patina, representing a chimerical animal with a long, elongated, upturned beak topped with a pair of globular eyes. Period before the 15th century.

Dimensions:
a) Length 5.5 cm (from the back of the head to the apex of the beak) / Height with base: 5.4 cm
b) Height 4.7 cm / Height with base: 10.5 cm

Acquired in a primitive art gallery, these statuettes come from a French collection of primitive art objects gathered by a collector from the South of France, during the second half of the 20th century.

Other objects from this old collection are available on our page.

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1 - The term "pre-Columbian" (or "pre-Hispanic") is associated with the period before the arrival of Christopher Columbus in 1492 in this region of the globe, when he thought he would reach the Indies from the west. This is the art of the indigenous populations of South and Central America.