Description:

Pre-Columbian, West Mexico, Colima, Jalisco, Chupicuaro, & Michoacan, ca. 300 BCE to 600 CE. A collection of 4 ancient Mexican pottery figures which may have been ancestors or protective figures, each hand built and all nude save for applied jewelry or headdresses. The female figures have accentuated thighs and stomachs perhaps to symbolize fertility, and the largest has prominent male genitalia. In West Mexican shaft tomb cultures, figures like these were placed facing inside of the subterranean chambers as if in conversation or watching over the dead; some scholars see these figures as a symbolic connection between the living and the dead. Size of largest: 5" L x 2" W (12.7 cm x 5.1 cm)

Provenance: ex-private collection of the late Father Bader, University of St. Thomas, Houston, Texas, USA; exhibited in the University of St. Thomas Art Gallery, acquired prior to 2000

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#154394

  • Condition: Missing leg on largest figure as shown. Small repair to the top of the head on the lightest colored figure. Chips and abrasions to others. Light mineral and earthen deposits. Manganese deposits on the Michoacan figure.

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March 19, 2023 9:00 AM MDT
Louisville, CO, US

Artemis Fine Arts

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