Pre-Columbian, West Mexico, Jalisco, ca. 300 BCE to 300 CE. An impressively large, seated figure of a pregnant woman. She wears a skirt and a necklace with a large, hanging pendant, as well as a pair of armlets around each upper arm. Atop her head, with its elongated skull, is a headband with a projecting shell-like spiral form at its front. A trio of earrings is attached to each ear. Her body is painted with pale orange and earthy red, creating a stripe around her waist that may be indicative of how people painted themselves decoratively in this culture. Size: 12.75" W x 20.5" H (32.4 cm x 52.1 cm)
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. A large effigy like this one would most likely have flanked the entrance to a tomb in a way that archaeologists have interpreted as guarding. 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.
Provenance: ex-John Rich collection, California. USA. John Rich was a notable Hollywood producer/director.
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#145832
Condition
Beautiful deposits on surface with nice remaining pigment. Skirt/lower body has been repaired, but repairs are expertly done and almost impossible to see.