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Pre-Columbian, West Mexico, Nayarit, Chinesco type, Protoclassic period, ca. 100 BCE to 250 CE. A hollow-built pottery female figure of the distinctive Chinesco type seated upon outstretched legs and voluptuous thighs. The woman presents with a slight forward lean supported by bangle-adorned arms curved to her waistline, and her neck bears a minimalist necklace in low relief. 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 a narrow opening on top. Size: 9.25″ W x 9.5″ H (23.5 cm x 24.1 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.
Condition: Nicks and abrasions to head, body, limbs, and base, with fading and areas of fire-darkening to pigment, and light encrustations, otherwise intact and excellent. Great remains of original pigment throughout.
Provenance: private New York, New York, USA collection; ex-private New York, USA collection; ex-Merrin Gallery, New York, New York, USA; ex-private Mrs. Cassard collection, Texas, USA, acquired between the 1950s and 1960s
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