Huastec Sandstone Figure of an Agricultural Deity with Digging Stick
Pre-Columbian, Huastec culture, Veracruz region, Mexico, ca. 900–1500 CE
Height: 19 ½ in. (49.5 cm)
A powerful and rare sandstone sculpture depicting an agricultural deity in a dynamic kneeling posture, grasping a tall digging stick — a central implement in traditional maize cultivation and a potent symbol of fertility and renewal in Huastec cosmology. The artist rendered the figure with a deeply carved, openwork composition, emphasizing the physical act of working the earth and the sacred connection between humanity and the agricultural cycle.
Objects of this type likely served both ritual and functional roles. Positioned at field boundaries, shrines, or ceremonial spaces, such sculptures invoked divine favor for abundant harvests, marked territorial divisions of cultivated land, and embodied the sacred relationship between community, soil, and sustenance. The expressive forward-leaning figure and minimalistic modeling embody the Huastec sculptural aesthetic, focused on conveying spiritual significance through bold, elemental forms.
Provenance: Ex. Leonard Auction; acquired from a private institutional collection, Illinois, USA.
Comparable: For a closely related example, see The Metropolitan Museum of Art, accession no. 1979.206.1048.
