Pre-Columbian, West Mexico, Nayarit, Protoclassic period, ca. 100 BCE to 250 CE. An evocative and dramatic figure, a hollow-built pottery shaman standing on thick legs and holding a lengthy club. Adorned in hues of burnt sienna, beige, and black, the ancient figure wears only a horned headdress - a sign of shamanism according to current scholarship and a barrel-shaped cuirass, leaving his clearly delineated phallus exposed. The figure's huge head displays a stylized visage of squinting eyes, a triangular nose, and a slightly open mouth with a jutting lower jaw, all flanked by a pair of rectangular ears with annular drill holes for suspending ornaments. His headdress flares backwards and opens to a circular rim leading to the interior of the hollow figure and allowing him to serve as a vessel. Size: 8.75" W x 14.5" H (22.2 cm x 36.8 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 Corpus Christi, Texas, USA estate collection, acquired 1960s to 1970s
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#165378
Condition
Repair to proper left arm and bottom of club with break lines visible. Repair to rim with restoration over break lines. Some resurfacing, nicks, and abrasions throughout, commensurate with age. Otherwise, very nice with lovely remaining pigments and rich manganese deposits.