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This attractive sculpture of a seated woman
comes from the Mexican state of Nayarit, located
on the Pacific coast. Archaeologically and
historically it shares a great deal with Jalisco and
Colima, not least its production of extremely
high-quality ceramic vessels and figures.
Comparatively little is known of the people who
produced them; like their neighbours mentioned
above, they lived in small agricultural
communities, with strong reliance upon familial/
tribal networks, judging from the multiple family
burials (shaft tombs) that have been discovered.
These tombs, which are up to twenty metres
deep, have supplied almost all the ceramics and
social information we currently have about these
populations. Known trends in sculptural theme
include representations of ball-players, ancestor
pairs, warriors, women (maternity figures) and
zoomorphic pieces, although these are much
more common in states such as Colima. Styles
vary through time, although precise relationships
are uncertain. The most realistic is the Ixtlan del
Rio style of highly-adorned and accurately-
modelled human figures with stylised faces.
Nayarit tableaux are also known, constituting
groups of abstract and figurative designs
apparently intended to be devotional pieces. The
best-known style is the Chinesco or Chinesca
style, named for their supposedly Chinese
appearance – impassive faces, linear eyes – of
which there are five claimed types (the validity of
the divisions is open to question due to their
considerable overlap). Type A is unusual in its
realism, while types B-E are more or less
abstract, with major interpretation of
proportions, limbs and faces.
This piece is a classical example of the
latter style, and shares various characteristics
with type “C”, although, as stated above, this is
open to interpretation. The piece depicts a
kneeling woman with legs splayed and her hands
on her hips. The head is disproportionately large,
with a flat face, a broad nose, slit eyes and
mouth, and protuberant, small ears topped off
with a red-painted plain headdress. The lower
half of the body is also oversized, with large,
modelled hips contrasting with nugatory legs.
Her arms are likewise modelled in a very
expressive manner, without joint detail, and
merging seamlessly with the hips without details
such as hands or fingers. The ground of the
piece is white, highlighted with an orange-red
hatched design representing a tunic-like item of
clothing and a belt. There are also large hatched
triangles on each cheek.
The role of the piece is uncertain, but the
exaggerated feminine characteristics suggest
that fertility might have been the intended
sentiment. The sophistication of Nayarit
sculptors and their ability to move away from
standard figurative concepts is well represented
here, and it also constitutes a striking and
attractive piece of sculpture that would take a
proud position in any collection of ancient
Central American art.
- (PF.2436 (LSO))
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