Description:

Pre-Columbian, West Mexico, Jalisco, ca. 300 BCE to 300 CE. A charming figure of a seated mother holding her son, hand-molded, with applied details. Both boy and mother have large, fine necklaces and wear headbands/hats/headdresses. Their features are similar. The boy's pierced ears and the piercings through the woman's upper body suggest that they might once have had rings or feathers placed through them. Size: 3.1" L x 4" W x 6" H (7.9 cm x 10.2 cm x 15.2 cm)

In this culture, the dead were buried down shafts - 3 to 20 meters deep - that were dug vertically or near vertically through the volcanic tuff that makes up the geology of the region. The base of the shaft would open into one or more horizontal chambers with a low ceiling. These shafts were almost always dug beneath a dwelling, probably a family home, and seem to have been used as family mausoleums, housing the remains of many related individuals. This is a figure made to be placed inside those mausoleums, perhaps to mediate between the worlds of the living and the dead.

Provenance: Ex-Duhon Collection, San Francisco, CA

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#119722

  • Condition: Feet from child are missing.

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January 19, 2017 7:00 AM MST
Louisville, CO, US

Artemis Fine Arts

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