ANTHROPOZOOMORPHIC STATUETTE Green serpentine with a polished surface Dimensions: 19 x 8.4 cm Olmec culture, Middle Preclassic period, 900–400 BC Provenance Former French private collection Sculpture depicting a young man standing, his face bearing the features of a jaguar. The eyes are almond-shaped, the brow ridges pronounced, the nose flattened into a snout and the mouth arched, in reference to the feline baring its teeth. The Olmec supernatural realm is more a world of spirits than of gods. The symbolism draws on a whole bestiary, but no animal occupies such an important place as the jaguar, which features in the majority of depictions whenever the aim is to express power, strength, or supernatural or magical powers. This is undoubtedly more a hybrid being combining human and animal traits than a shamanic transformation of a man into a jaguar. Several chips on the skull and on the back of the statuette. Lower limbs missing.