Pre-Columbian, West Mexico, Jalisco, Ameca-Etzatlan type, Protoclassic Period, ca. 100 BCE to 250 CE. A hand-built pottery female figure seated with legs folded beneath a skirt and presenting sizable breasts. Her left hand grasps the bottom of a deep bowl while she places her right hand atop her centrally-parted coiffure, and painted cicatrice spots and stripes in black and red pigment accentuate her chest, face, neck, earrings, and back down her spine. Supported by square shoulders, her elongated head exhibits a calm countenance of deep-set, almond-shaped eyes, a sharp nose, and thin lips parted slightly. Size: 5.5" L x 10.75" W x 13.3" H (14 cm x 27.3 cm x 33.8 cm)

West Mexican shaft tomb figures like this example derive their names from the central architectural feature that we know of from this culture. Jalisco, located on Mexico's southwestern coast, was part of the shaft tomb culture during this time, along with neighbors in nearby Colima and Nayarit. These people would build generally rectangular vertical or near-vertical shafts down from the ground level - usually about 3 to 20 meters deep - through tepetate, the volcanic tuff that makes up the geology of the region, to narrow horizontal tunnels that led to one or more vaulted or rounded burial chambers.

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. Figures like this one were placed into the tombs; researchers believe that they were placed around the edges facing inward, as if in conversation with the dead. Grouped with other figures, and alongside clay bowls, and boxes, figures like this one were positioned around the body (or bodies), near the skull.

Provenance: private New York, New York, USA collection; ex-private New York, USA collection, acquired from Stair Auction, December 4, 2015, sale 120515, lot 313, from a 1990s estate

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#179564

Repair to proper left leg and top of skirt, with small chips and light adhesive residue along break lines. Small fissure and chipping to right hand behind head, with fading to pigment commensurate with age, and light earthen deposits, otherwise in great condition. Wonderful preservation to facial features.