**First Time At Auction**

Pre-Columbian, West Mexico, Nayarit, Chinesco type, Protoclassic period, ca. 100 BCE to 250 CE. A splendid pottery female figure of the distinctive Chinesco type seated upon outstretched legs and voluptuous thighs. The woman sits confidently supported by bangle-adorned arms curved to her waistline just above a beaded belt. Highly burnished surfaces provide ample grounds for the applied red-orange and beige pigment that imbue her with a characteristic Nayarit appearance. Her enlarged head exhibits coffee-bean-shaped eyes, a hoop-adorned nose, cupped ears, and a slender mouth, all beneath a tall forehead and incised coiffure. Size: 10.5" W x 12.8" H (26.7 cm x 32.5 cm)

West Mexican shaft tomb figures like this one derive their names from the central architectural feature that we know of from this culture. These people would build generally rectangular vertical shafts down from the ground level down to narrow horizontal tunnels that led to one or more vaulted or rounded burial chambers. The geomorphology in the area means that these chambers are dug out of tepetate, a type of volcanic tuff material, which give the chambers a rough-edged look.

Provenance: private Evanston, Illinois, USA collection, purchased in the 1960s in Mexico and brought to the USA at that time

All items legal to buy/sell under U.S. Statute covering cultural patrimony Code 2600, CHAPTER 14, and are guaranteed to be as described or your money back.

A Certificate of Authenticity will accompany all winning bids.

We ship worldwide to most countries and handle all shipping in-house for your convenience.

#177704

Missing back of head with stable hairline fissure to top. Light surface wear as shown, but otherwise, excellent with nice remaining pigments and great manganese deposits.