Pre-Columbian, West Mexico, Nayarit, ca. 300 BCE to 300 CE. A wonderfully stylized female standing figure. She has a large, ovoid head with black hair and small facial features; she wears a necklace, a skirt, and bracelets and anklets. Her hips and thighs are hugely exaggerated, maybe suggesting the beauty standards of the Nayarit. Comes with custom stand. Size: 5.35" W x 10" H (13.6 cm x 25.4 cm)

This style of sculpture is known as Chinesco by collectors because of its stylistic similarities to Chinese art. 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: Ex-Gill collection, ex-Private California collection

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#119525

Intact with almost all remaining pigment