Pre-Columbian, West Mexico, Nayarit, Ixtlan del Rio style, ca. 300 BCE to 300 CE. A remarkable pair of pottery figures, a male and a pregnant female, both shown nude and standing upon thick legs with mouths partially open as though letting out a deep bellow or a sonorous chant. The female places both hands atop her bulging belly, as the male holds a ball on his shoulder. Liberal remains of beige pigment adorn their red-slipped body, obscured by rich blooms of manganese from centuries spent buried deep in the chamber tombs of West Mexico. Though nude, they both are adorned with several earrings and the male is crowned by an openwork headdress, indicating he was of elevated social status. Size larger (female): 8" W x 17" H (20.3 cm x 43.2 cm)

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. A large effigy like this one would most likely have flanked the entrance to a tomb in a way that archaeologists have interpreted as guarding. 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.

Provenance: private Cheshire, Connecticut, USA collection, by descent, acquired in 1965; ex-Armando Hecht collection, Mexico City, Mexico

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#183215

Missing left arm of male and right ear of female. Both have been repaired with some restoration and break lines visible; female has chipping and small losses along break lines. Nicks and abrasions to surface as shown, all commensurate with age. Great manganese blooms throughout.