On view
Art of the Ancient Americas
Female figurine nursing an infant,
1400–1100 BCE
Tlatilco (Type D1)
Early Formative Period
1999-243
Although not the first places where ceramics were produced in Mesoamerica, villages in the central basin of Mexico, now encompassed by Mexico City, the adjacent valley of Morelos to the south, and the region around the modern town of Las Bocas, Puebla, are among the areas most renowned for their ancient ceramic vessels and figurines. Local workers and amateur pothunters were the first, in the early twentieth century, to encounter the remains of these villages. The objects they looted from the sites and sold on the art market became prized by a small number of art collectors in Mexico and the United States. Later, archaeologists excavated sites in the area, contributing crucial information about the original burial context for these works.
Information
Title
Female figurine nursing an infant
Dates
1400–1100 BCE
Medium
Ceramic with red, white, and yellow slip-paint
Dimensions
9 × 3.8 × 2.8 cm (3 9/16 × 1 1/2 × 1 1/16 in.)
Credit Line
Gift of Gillett G. Griffin
Object Number
1999-243
Place Made
North America, Mexico, Mexico City, Central Mexico, Tlatilco
Culture
Period
Subject
By April, 1967, Gillett G. Griffin (1928-2016), Princeton, NJ [1]; 1999, gift of Gillett G. Griffin to the Princeton University Art Museum.
Notes:
[1] According to a dated slide (GG90003093) in the Griffin archive.
