Pre-Columbian, West Mexico, Jalisco, Late Preclassic period, ca. 300 to 200 BCE. A charming pottery figure of a pregnant female figure depicted nude as she stands atop tall legs with arms bent at the elbows to rest her hands above her voluptuous breasts. Crowned by a conical headdress with a bulbous extension at the back, she displays distinguished West Mexican characteristics of an elongated head, a narrow-pointed nose, coffee bean-shaped eyes, and a smiling mouth. A pendant in the shape of a ceremonial axe head hangs from a chain at her neck, while a pair of earrings resembling seashells flank her face. Her body and face are additionally adorned with mesmerizing linear motifs. Size: 2.9" W x 8.7" H (7.4 cm x 22.1 cm); 9.1" H (23.1 cm) on included custom stand.
Jalisco, located on Mexico's southwestern 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 seem to have been used as family mausoleums, housing the remains of many related individuals. Within the tombs, they arrayed skeletons radially with their feet positioned inward, and clay offerings, like this one, placed alongside the walls facing inward, near the skulls. Some scholars have connected these dynamic sculptures of the living as a strong contrast to the skeletal remains whose space they shared, as if they mediated between the living and the dead.
Published in Sotheby's New York "Pre-Columbian Art" Monday, November 24, 1997, lot number 276 (1 of 2), page 126.
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Provenance: private Hawaii, USA collection; ex-Sotheby's New York City, November 24, 1997 (sale 7057), lot 276 (1 of 2); ex-private New England, USA collection
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#177583
Condition
Some light surface wear commensurate with age. Otherwise, intact and excellent with liberal remaining pigments and nice mineral deposits to surface.