Figure Item Number: 993/4 from the MOA: University of British Columbia

Description

Hollow figure of a standing person with square body, short arms, and four legs. Face has large, protruding nose, incised eyes and mouth, and protruding ears; arms are bent into body at elbows; top of head has an opening in it. Decoration is in red and white with red above waist and white below waist and at eyes, mouth, and ears.

History Of Use

These types of hollow, naturalistic redware ceramics have been found in (often elaborate) shaft tombs, a mortuary structure unique to the western Mexican states of Colima, Nayarit and Jalisco. Some experts think the main figure found in such burials may represent a powerful, elite member of the society; other figures may depict retainers sacrificed to accompany that person in the afterlife. Other figures commonly depict warriors, pregnant women, acrobats, male and female couples both seated and standing, and women with children. (The end date of the period is in dispute.)