**First Time At Auction**

Pre-Columbian, West Mexico, Colima, ca. 300 BCE to 300 CE. An exceptionally preserved, anthropomorphic terracotta redware standing figure with a severe hunchback and dwarfism. The face is sensitively modeled and largely realistic, with a snub nose, a closed mouth that juts outward slightly, and coffee-bean-shaped eyes that are characteristic of the Colima. The face has a calm, meditative expression on it, and its features are framed by twin, cup-shaped ears. The figure's attenuated limbs and puffy chest only further the dwarfish stature when viewed in conjunction with its hunched back and parabolic spinal column protruding from beneath its skin. Red-orange and tangerine hues adorn the body, and thick areas of manganese deposits provide a darkened complementarity. Mesoamerican pottery dwarves are almost always depicted in seated positions, making this an exceedingly-rare standing example. Size: 7.85" W x 15.7" H (19.9 cm x 39.9 cm)

Hunchback and dwarf individuals are very common in Colima sculpture - indeed, they heavily outnumber portrayals of women (and some have theorized that this relates to their relatively high social status in the society). Some scholars attribute the hunched back in West Mexican shaft tomb culture to a particular form of tuberculosis; the protruding shoulders and lower spine of this example may be part of the figure's deformity or the result of an emaciated state.

Colima, located on Mexico's southwestern coast, was during this time part of the shaft tomb culture, along with neighbors to the north in Jalisco and Nayarit. 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: ex-private T.S. collection, San Diego County, California, USA, acquired between 25 and 40 years ago

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#140614

Intact! With wonderfully preserved features and pigment and a smattering of nice manganese deposits over much of the body.