Pre-Columbian, West Mexico, Nayarit, ca. 300 BCE to 300 CE. A seated figure of a woman with shortened arms and legs and a square torso; her head has an emphasized nose and coffee-bean style eyes and mouth. The hair is incised and rougher than the rest of the body. Black, dark red, and cream details give the figure a visual texture. 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. 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. Size: 4.75" W x 6.3" H (12.1 cm x 16 cm)

Provenance: Ex-Peter Arnovick collection, San Francisco, CA acquired around 1980

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