On view
Seated elderly female figurine with a male infant,
1000 BCE–200 CE
More Context
Didactics
Preclassic ceramic figurines from Xochipala, in the Mexican state of Guerrero, are renowned for their attention to anatomical detail and expressiveness. This piece portrays a woman, whose old age is denoted by her sagging, pendant breasts and by her toothless open mouth. The cross-hatching on her cheeks may indicate wrinkles, or, perhaps, decorative scarification. She holds a male baby in her lap, its body carefully and convincingly modeled. Given her age, it is likely she is not the mother, but a midwife. Among the contemporaneous Olmec culture of Veracruz, Mexico, numerous examples in ceramic and stone of adults holding children were also produced, though they typically render the baby in a highly stylized manner and often leave the gender of the adult ambiguous. In contrast to several Olmec examples, this woman does not caress or lovingly gaze at the infant. She sits upright and looks forward, perhaps indicating her role as protector of the child. Although it is tempting to interpret this pairing as analogous to the Olmec cases, or to Late Classic Maya woman-and-child figurines, such as the example in the Princeton collection, the similarity in form may not parallel a similarity in symbolic meaning.
Special Exhibition
Elderly women in Mesoamerica frequently served as midwives and cared for young children. The two figurines displayed here confirm the long history and range of this tradition, as they were produced some 1,000 years apart and in far-flung areas of Mexico. The example from Xochipala (y1982-14) incorporates striking anatomical detail in both the woman and the infant, although both are devoid of emotion. In contrast, the expression on the face of the Maya woman (2003-26) seems kind, her gentle touch of the child nurturing. This figurine depicts the same goddess, Chak Chel, who was featured at the beginning of this exhibition in her oppositional, dangerous aspect. While Chak Chel was associated with disease, she was also a patroness of midwives.
More About This Object
Information
1000 BCE–200 CE
North America, Mexico, Guerrero, upper Balsas region, Vicinity of Xochipala
Probably about 1970, probably sold by John Stokes, Nyack, NY, to Paul Tishman (1900–1996), New York; consigned to Constance Kamens Fine Art, New York; before 1981, sold to a private US collector; 1982, anonymous gift to the Princeton University Art Museum [1].
Notes:
[1] Provenance is according to correspondence, dated February 8, 2010, from Peter David Joralemon.
- Peter David Joralemon, "The Old Woman and the Child: Themes in the Iconography of Preclassic Mesoamerica," in The Olmec and Their Neighbors: Essays in Memory of Matthew W. Stirling, eds. Michael D. Coe, David C. Grove, Elizabeth P. Benson (Washington, D.C.: Dumburton Oaks Research Library and Collections, 1981)., figs. 17–18. p. 171 (illus.)
- Gillett G. Griffin, "Olmec Forms and Materials Found in Central Guerrero," in The Olmec and Their Neighbors: Essays in Memory of Matthew W. Stirling, eds. Michael D. Coe, David C. Grove, Elizabeth P. Benson (Washington, D.C.: Dumburton Oaks Research Library and Collections, 1981)., fig. 22 (illus.)
- "Acquisitions of the Art Museum 1982", Record of the Art Museum, Princeton University 42, no. 1 (1983): p. 50-70., p. 64
- Allen Rosenbaum and Francis F. Jones, Selections from The Art Museum, Princeton University, (Princeton, NJ: The Art Museum, Princeton University, 1986), p. 248 (illus.)
- Michael D. Coe et al., The Olmec World: Ritual and Rulership (Princeton, Princeton University Art Museum, 1996), cat. no. 136, p. 238 (illus.)
