Pre-Columbian, Ecuador, Valdivian culture, ca. 3500 BCE. A reddish ceramic figure of a woman. She has a stylized head, with thin slits for eyes, eyebrows, and mouth, and a low relief nose. Her face is dwarfed by and set back from a huge head of hair, with incised lines flowing back from the hairline and a band around the head. Her body is simplified, with no hands or feet and rounded limbs. Her arms meet at her stomach under small breasts. These fired clay figures were produced, starting at the major Valdivian site of Real Alto, roughly five hundred years after similar ones were made in stone. Most examples of figures like this one are female, but some have both male and female properties. Size: 1.45" W x 4.2" H (3.7 cm x 10.7 cm); 5.65" H (14.4 cm) on included custom stand.

These figures were found near hearths and food preparation areas, as well as in burials of important personages. Some scholars believed that they were used in ceremonies, and then thrown out at the end of a ritual, their powers exhausted. Later Andean religions featured many effigies and sculptures whose makers believed they could be given life by spirits, so perhaps these figures were used to pray for pregnancy, and then discarded if they led to a successful conception. An excellent example of the form.

Provenance: private R.D. collection, Long Beach, California, USA collection, acquired over twenty five years from various major galleries

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#125838

Intact, with excellent remaining detail. Light surface wear commensurate with age and handling.