Pre-Columbian, West Mexico, Nayarit, Protoclassic Period, ca. 100 BCE to 250 CE. An expressive and sizable bi-chrome pottery warrior figure of a hollow form and exhibiting highly burnished surfaces adorned with vibrant red-orange and creamy beige pigments. Wearing a piece of vertically striped barrel armor around his torso, the bulky figure sits nude from the waist down with bent legs atop an integral, two-legged stool. Both stubbed arms project out before him, displaying delineated hands grasping a formidable club, as three collar necklaces lay above his armor. The ancient figure's tall countenance presents slit-form eyes above a prominent nose with incised nostrils, an open mouth, and ears bedecked with multiple earrings, all topped by a bicorn helmet incised with a dense lattice-patterned motif. Size: 6.25" W x 17" H (15.9 cm x 43.2 cm)
Ceramic figures like this one are the only remains that we have today of a sophisticated and unique culture in West Mexico. They made no above-ground monuments or sculptures, at least that we know of, which is in strong contrast to developments elsewhere in ancient Mesoamerica. Instead, their tombs were their lasting works of art: skeletons arrayed 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: private Hawaii, USA collection; ex-Baker collection, Tucson, Arizona USA 1960 to 2000
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#162991
Condition
Repaired from several pieces with restoration over break lines. Proper right horn on headdress restored from new material. Light nicks/chips and abrasions in some areas, commensurate with age. Otherwise, very nice with lovely earthen and mineral deposits throughout.