Standing female figure
Standing female figure
Standing female figure
Standing female figure
Standing female figure
Standing female figure
Standing female figure
Standing female figure
Standing female figure

Photograph Courtesy of Sotheby’s, Inc. © 2021

Standing female figure
Standing female figure
Standing female figure
Standing female figure
Standing female figure
Standing female figure
Standing female figure
Standing female figure
Standing female figure

On view

Art of the Ancient Americas

Standing female figure,

1000–1550

Central Caribbean
La Cabaña Period
2021-92
As is typical of Costa Rican female stone sculptures, this figure seems to highlight fertility and beauty. For example, her hands cup and thus draw attention to her breasts, while her long hair with stepped bangs suggests youth and health. Such large freestanding human forms became popular among central highland and Caribbean coastal communities in Costa Rica around 1000 CE. Their discovery on the surface of archaeological sites associated with public architecture is thought to reflect a shift at this time to a more centralized and hierarchical political structure, in which rituals involved whole communities. These sculptures may have been manipulated for different events or rituals. They could have been dressed, relocated, or assembled into narrative and symbolic groupings as well.

Information

Title
Standing female figure
Dates

1000–1550

Medium
Andesite
Dimensions
80.6 × 40.6 × 19.7 cm (31 3/4 × 16 × 7 3/4 in.)
Credit Line
Museum purchase, Peter Jay Sharp, Class of 1952, Fund
Object Number
2021-92
Place Made

North America, Costa Rica, Linea Vieja region

Culture
Costa Rican
Period
Pre-Columbian Central American styles and periods
Type
sculptures
Materials
andesite
Subject
women

1966 Alfonso Jiménez Alvarado, San José, Costa Rica, sold to André Emmerich, New York [1]; November 30, 1968, sold to the Hidden Harmony private collection [2]; May 18, 2021, sold through Sotheby’s, New York, to the Princeton University Art Museum.

Notes:
[1] According to Emmerich ledger card (inv. no. CB-150), Sotheby’s, New York. The card indicates that the purchase occurred in 1966 but that the work did not arrive until May 1968. Copy in the curatorial file.
[2] According to provenance indicated in a September 9, 1988 appraisal by Harmer Johnson for the Hidden Harmony collection. Hidden Harmony association according to Sotheby’s, Hidden Harmony: An Exquisite Private Collection (New York: Sotheby’s, 2021), lot 9. Copies in the curatorial file

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The Museum regularly researches its objects and their collecting histories, updating its records to reflect new information. We also strive to catalogue works of art using language that is consistent with how people, subjects, artists, and cultures describe themselves. As this effort is ongoing, the Museum’s records may be incomplete or contain terms that are no longer acceptable. We welcome your feedback, questions, and additional information that you feel may be useful to us. Email us at collectionsinfo@princeton.edu.

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