Pre-Columbian, West Mexico, Jalisco, ca. 300 BCE to 300 CE. A handbuilt, polychrome terracotta female figure seated with legs bent underneath her striped skirt, her torso nude with pronounced breasts. She holds a bowl in her right hand and places her left hand upon her bent knee. Her head is characteristically oversized and presents large coffee bean shaped eyes, a prominent nose fitted with a large nose ring, tab ears adorned by multiple earrings, an open mouth suggesting that she may be chanting or singing, and a high forehead with a caplike headdress or coiffure. Size: 5.877" L x 8.125" W x 11.625" H (14.9 cm x 20.6 cm x 29.5 cm)
Jalisco, located on Mexico's western coast, was during this time part of the shaft tomb culture, along with neighbors in Colima and Nayarit. In this culture, the dead were buried down shafts - 3 to 20 meters deep - that were dug vertically or near vertically through the volcanic tuff that makes up the geology of the region. The base of the shaft would open into one or more horizontal chambers with a low ceiling. These shafts were almost always dug beneath a dwelling, probably a family home, and scholars believe they were used as family mausoleums, housing the remains of many related individuals. This is a figure made to be placed inside those mausoleums, perhaps to mediate between the worlds of the living and the dead.
Provenance: Howard Rose Gallery, New York, New York, USA; ex-private Corman collection, Massachusetts, USA, acquired from Harmer Rooke Galleries, New York, New York, USA, 1994 (auction #59, lot 33)
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#150122
Condition
Expected surface wear commensurate with age. Minute chips to ears. Professionally repaired from several pieces. Covered with manganese deposits.