On view
Nose pipe in the form of a kneeling human,
1400–1000 BCE
More Context
Didactics
This humanoid vessel was most likely used to snuff tobacco or some other psychotropic substance. The chest of the figure held the powdered substance, and the rounded spout on top of the head was inserted into the user's nostril. The large, round nostrils of the upturned nose seem to echo the function of the vessel. The placement of the conical snout on the head may also refer to the object's use; comparable conical "horns" on later ceramic figurines from Colima have been interpreted as references to the shamanic capacity to interact with the supernatural world through the use of hallucinogenic intoxicants. Some of the stylized elements in this piece result from functional requirements, but other aspects may indicate the spread of artistic conventions from the Olmec. By 1400 B.C., the nearby site of Teopantecuanitlan exhibited strong connections with the Gulf Coast Olmec, who may have exposed Xochipala to Olmec stylization, a possibility suggested most strongly by the geometric patterns in the hair of the figure.
More About This Object
Information
1400–1000 BCE
North America, Mexico, Guerrero, Central Mexico, Xochipala
- Carlo T. E. Gay, Xochipala: The Beginnings of Olmec Art (Princeton, The Princeton University Art Museum, 1972)., figs. 7a–d, pp. 21–23 (illus.)
- Peter T. Furst, "Hallucinogens in Precolumbian Art" in Art and Environment in Native America, Mary E. King and Idris R. Traylor, Jr., eds, pp. 55-101. Special Publication no. 7 (Lubbock, Texas: Museum of Texas Tech University), fig. 14
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Frances Pratt and Carlo T. E. Gay, Ceramic figures of ancient Mexico: Guerrero, México, Guanajuato, Michoacán, 1600 B.C.-300 A.D. (Graz: Akademische Druck-u. Verlagsanstalt, 1979).
, fig. 99 (illus.) - "Acquisitions of the Art Museum 1991," Record of the Art Museum, Princeton University 51, no. 1 (1992): p. 22-78., p. 71
- Michael D. Coe et al., The Olmec World: Ritual and Rulership (Princeton, Princeton University Art Museum, 1996), fig. 3, p. 51 (illus.)
- Susan Toby Evans, Ancient Mexico and Central America: Archaeology and Culture History (New York: Thames & Hudson, 2004)., fig. 6.3, p. 161 (illus.)
- Princeton University Art Museum: Handbook of the Collection (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2007), p. 263 (illus.)
- Susan Toby Evans, Ancient Mexico and Central America: Archaeology and Culture History, second edition (London and New York: Thames and Hudson, 2008)., fig. 6.3 (illus.)
- Richard Schlagman and Phaidon Press, The Art Museum (London; New York: Phaidon Press Inc., 2011)., fig. 3, p. 234 (illus.)
