A Xochipala manopla

A Xochipala manopla
Guerrero, Mexico, circa 900 - 600 BC
speckled green stone, of padlock shape with a large ring handle to a carved surface of rows of spherical bosses,
20cm high, 20cm wide and 16cm deep.

Provenance
Alberto Ulrich, Milan.
Fine Arts of Ancient Lands, New York, Miami.
Felix and Heidi Stoll Collection, Basel.
Christie's, Paris, Collection Felix and Heidi Stoll, 9 April 2019, lot 80.

Exhibited and Published
Mexique, Terre des Dieux: Tresors de l'art precolombien, 8 October 1998 - 24 January 1999, Musee Rath, Geneva, p.41, pl.29.

This heavy handstone (manopla) has been considered as part of the ballgame equipment. The Mesoamerican ballgame was played over a period of three thousand years from the southern United States all the way to Nicaragua. There were many regional variations of the game. These included the rubber ball being deflected off the hips with no use of the hands, and others used sticks, bats and handstones, such as this. The manopla would have been held by the ballplayer to hit the ball and keep it in motion. They have been found along with other ballgame paraphernalia: yokes, hachas and palmas.