Pre-Columbian, West Mexico, Nayarit, ca. 300 BCE to 300 CE. A hand-built and highly burnished pottery figure seated with crossed legs. The nude figure presents with an upright posture and holds a piriform rattle instrument in his raised right hand while draping his left hand away from his chest. The enlarged head bears protruding circular eyes, a narrow nasal bridge with nostrils flared from a thick nose ring, bared teeth, and ears adorned with trios of lengthy ornaments, all beneath an incised, backswept coiffure. The beige ground of the figure is accentuated with cream-hued pigment along the rattle top, eyes, nose ring, and earrings. Size: 8.5" W x 11.125" H (21.6 cm x 28.3 cm)
Clay 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: ex-Stein collection, Bloomfield Hills, Michigan, USA, acquired February 1, 2007; ex-Artemis Gallery
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#164331
Condition
Both arms reattached to shoulders, with restoration to left leg from knee down, and resurfacing with overpainting along new material and break lines. Light abrasions, a few stable hairline fissures on base, and fading to original pigment. Light earthen deposits and nice overall form.