Lot 71
Pre-Columbian, West Mexico, Jalisco, ca. 300 BCE to 300 CE. Preserved in excellent condition, this is a classic "sheepface" figure of a standing woman. She is nude aside from painted decoration that gives her what appears to be striped leggings and a necklace as well as two scarification marks, one on each shoulder; she wears a headdress composed of two headbands around her tall, rectangular head. Two huge, round earrings, painted with white decoration, complete her ornamentation. A complex pattern of dots down the center of her torso and in a huge "X" across her face may be representative of tattoos. One hand is pressed to her neck while the other holds a flat tablet - perhaps food or a sacred object. Size: 5.7" W x 11.6" H (14.5 cm x 29.5 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: private Stagecoach, Nevada, USA collection; acquired from 1985 to present from galleries such as Arte Primitivo, Art For Eternity, Butterfields, and Riverbend Gallery
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#128689
- Condition: Intact, with excellent pigment remaining. Manganese deposits on surface.
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