A superb Hacha of a rare type. Its eyes are hollowed out and may have been inlaid in the past, while the ears are deeply pierced and probably had ornaments attached. Two subtle carved lines in slight relief undulate under his eyes and flow like tears, a comparable detail on another hacha (probably representing the God of the Wind) formerly in the collections of Tana and Pierre Matisse (see Sotheby's New York sale May 13, 2011, no. 180). Our hacha is comparable to another from the same corpus in the collections of the Jerusalem Museum (inv. no. B00.0139), but less beautiful and less well finished than the one offered here. Veracruz culture, Mexico Classical period, 600 to 900 A.D. Stone, minor ancient accidents to the nose and back, slight traces of reddish pigment on the front and yellowish pigment on one side. H. 16.5 cm and L. 25 cm Provenance : Galerie Denise René, Paris 1960 Marcel and Raymonde Astorg, acquired from the latter through her intermediary ca.1960 Passed on by descent