Hollow female figurine
Hollow female figurine
Hollow female figurine
Hollow female figurine
Hollow female figurine
Hollow female figurine

On view

Art of the Ancient Americas

Hollow female figurine,

600 BCE–1 CE

Chupícuaro
Late Formative Period
2016-96
This figurine—richly slip-painted in red, black, and cream to indicate body paint and clothing—exemplifies one type of tomb figure from the Chupícuaro culture. The elongated and flattened head may represent intentional cranial modification, a form of body alteration practiced by many Mesoamerican peoples. The slit at the top of the head would have allowed airflow during firing, though the slip-paint highlighting this gap may indicate that it had symbolic significance as well. Hair may have been inserted to enhance the human appearance of the figure. The hips and groin include dense, complex geometric decoration, possibly indicating a skirt. Bold zigzag bands outlined in black with cream fill adorn the body and face, perhaps depicting body paint or tattoos. Only women were rendered at this scale in the Chupícuaro tradition.

Information

Title
Hollow female figurine
Dates

600 BCE–1 CE

Medium
Ceramic with red, black, and cream slip-paint
Dimensions
33.3 × 16.5 × 8.6 cm (13 1/8 × 6 1/2 × 3 3/8 in.)
Credit Line
Museum purchase, Mary Trumbull Adams Art Fund
Object Number
2016-96
Place Made

North America, Mexico, Guanajuato or Michoacán, Chupícuaro

Period
Late Preclassic
Type
ceramics, figurines
Materials
slip, ceramic
Techniques
burnishing (polishing)
Subject
women, rites of passage, figures (representations), geometric patterns

1966, D. Daniel Michel (1902-2004) Sr., Chicago (no. 66:128) [1]; 1991, D. Daniel Michel sold through Ancient Art of the New World, New York, to US private collection [2]; 2016, sold to the Princeton University Art Museum.

Notes:
[1] Michel assigned acquisition numbers to each of the objects in his collection, with the first digits indicating the year of purchase, in this case 66 for 1966. This has been supported by examination of other objects in his collection that have been published and exhibited, unlike this object.
[1] According to US private collection.

AAMD posting: https://aamd.org/object-registry/new-acquisitions-of-archaeological-material-and-works-of-ancient-art/4777

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