Pre-Columbian, West Mexico, Nayarit, Chinesco, ca. 300 BCE to 300 CE. Perhaps the most desirable of all Nayarit pottery styles, a very fine Chinesca Type-C pottery female sitting with legs spread apart, possessing a characteristic heart-shaped head with a minimalist visage comprised of slitted eyes, a protruding nose adorned with a nose ring, a small slit mouth, an incised hairline, jutting ears, and black painted arched brows and stylized geometric tattoos. She has long arms decorated with armbands; her hands are placed to the locus of her womb which is covered with a black net-patterned wrap secured via a belt that continues around her waist just above her buttocks. Adding to the emphasis on her fertility are her voluptuous thighs and revealed perky breasts. She also wears a necklace with dotted beads and T-shaped danglers, and curiously larger, curved T-shaped black motifs mark her back. A very fine example. Size: 6.875" W x 7.5" H (17.5 cm x 19 cm).
Chinesco style figural sculptures like this example have been found primarily in shaft tombs. The term 'Chinesco' was coined to capture the subtle Asian phenotype of such pieces. The high cheekbones and slitted eyes visible in this example are hallmarks of Chinesco figures.
Provenance: private New York, New York, USA collection; ex-private R. D. collection, Long Beach, California, USA, acquired over 25 years from various major galleries
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#134095
Condition
Head and one leg/hip reattached with visible fissures on corresponding side of back to buttocks. Surface wear commensurate with age. Liberal manganese deposits.