Lot 45H
Pre-Columbian, West Mexico, Jalisco, ca. 300 BCE to 300 CE. This is an excellent quality hand-molded pottery sculpture showing a seated, conjoined man and woman. The man holds a drum on his lap and appears to be in the act of drumming; the woman sits directly behind him and has her hands holding his chest. They wear matching headdresses, necklaces, and skirts, and both have the dotted shoulder marks that have been interpreted variously as armor or ritual scarification. Strategically placed red paint emphasizes their matching attire. These figures are from the West Mexican Shaft Tomb tradition and were made to be placed in tombs, where they lined the walls of the tomb while the deceased rested in the center. It is relatively rare to find conjoined male/female sculptures. These may represent married couples, and as modern viewers, the way the female holds the male looks like tenderness. However, art depicting personal affection is fairly rare from Mesoamerica, so some scholars see in these sculptures a ritual performance or possibly a type of healing involving laying on of hands. The drum is associated with shamanic practice, lending further credence to this interpretation. Size: 7.85" L x 6" W x 10.6" H (19.9 cm x 15.2 cm x 26.9 cm)
Provenance: Ex - Scollard collection, Los Angeles, CA
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#115939
- Condition: Intact, with a great deal of remaining pigment.
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